From DennisPrager.com: “Bob Herbert of the New York Times writes that blacks have to take responsibility for the deterioration of the black family. Coming from a liberal like Herbert, this is quite an admission…”
Bob Herbert writes in the New York Times:
The report, titled “ Call for Change,” begins by saying that “the nation’s young black males are in a state of crisis” and describes their condition as “a national catastrophe.” It tells us that black males remain far behind their schoolmates in academic achievement and that they drop out of school at nearly twice the rate of whites.
Black children — boys and girls — are three times more likely to live in single-parent households than white children and twice as likely to live in a home where no parent has full-time or year-round employment.
In 2008, black males were imprisoned at a rate six-and-a-half times higher than white males.
…Cultural change comes hard, and takes a long time, but nothing short of a profound cultural change is essential. Let the message go out that walking down the aisle carries with it great responsibilities but can also be great fun, and watching your kid graduate with honors is a blast.
Black children can’t wait for Washington to get its act together. They don’t have time to wait for the economy to improve. They need mom and dad and the larger community to act now, to do the right thing without delay.
This is not a fight only for blacks. All allies are welcome. But the cultural imperative lies overwhelmingly with the black community itself.
On his radio show Nov. 17, Dennis Prager said: “Bob Herbert is reliably liberal. Society causes a lot of problems for blacks. We need government intervention.”
“I’ve said [that black life in the inner city is a tragedy] because I care deeply for Americans of every color but most whites don’t talk about this because they are afraid of being called racist. If you are absolutely certain that you are not something, you don’t fear being called it. I am absolutely certain that I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”
“How can a majority of black men without a high school diploma spend time in prison but there is no relationship between a policeman’s work in inner cities and race? Only a liberal who wishes away reality [could believe that]. It is a sad fact, a catastrophic fact, that black males disproportionately commit violent crime.”
“The moment you learn that the government won’t help you, you learn to help yourself. He laments it. He is a liberal. He laments that government won’t rescue black life from this catastrophe. No one will do what you need to do for yourself.”
“Government has tried to help black life all of my life. And it has failed horribly. My anger is at the left-liberal idea that government can help people when they should help themselves.”
Dennis plays a sound clip of a young black woman talking about Barack Obama: “I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. If I help him, he’ll help me.”
Dennis: “That’s the Democratic message.”
“People will awaken to the fact that they have to help themselves and can’t rely on the state.”
