This past Sunday at a black church in Chicago Barack Obama talked about the epidemic that has infected and continues to spread throughout the black community-absentee fathers.
I applaud him for having the guts to talk about this issue, at a black church, to a black audience on Father’s Day and I seriously hope he continues to talk about it every single chance he gets not just on Father’s Day. But Obama and high profile celebrities like Bill Cosby shouldn’t be the only ones addressing this issue this is a national issue and it calls for a national solution.
Here are the stats: ” Nearly 40 percent of American children will spend some time without a father present. More than 60 percent of African-American children live in single-parent households.. among more recent births, that rate is above 70 percent.”
This is unacceptable!
Yes, I know, we didn’t create the problem but we should all be part of the solution because we all have a vested interest in making sure that the majority of black youths are able to fully realize their potential and that black single parent homes become the exception rather than the rule.
In a society that preaches that every child should have a decent shot at making it in America can we HONESTLY say that these children, many from low income families and with ever present economic and social barriers, will have or have that shot if we allow men to be mere absent ‘baby daddies’ rather than committed fathers?
[...] President Obama has been consistent in his Father’s Day message. This old post from an ”unapologetic black liberal’ takes us back to the candidate Obama’s Father’s Day message in 2008. The not yet [...]