In 2008, former President Barack Obama said at a Father’s Day speech, “We know that more than half of all Black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled … since we were children. We know the statistics — that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime — nine times more likely to drop out of school and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.”
Obama gave that speech about 14 years ago. During that time, according to Statista Research, there were 4.16 million Black families in the United States helmed by a single mother. With data released in 2021, those numbers increased to 4.25 million.
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As Mother’s Day approaches, it’s quite apropos to say thank you to those mothers for their hard work, dedication and unyielding efforts to raise their children, despite the economic challenges that have befallen so many families during these unprecedented times.
The question that continues to mystify so many is: How do we improve the lives of our young Black males?
To improve and ameliorate their plight means keeping them out of prison and decreasing their rates of dropping out of school. Unfortunately, there was some criticism levied against Obama for making this announcement. Yet, it’s more than clear that far too many of our African American fathers must do better. We say this at the dinner table, at the hairdresser, at the barber shop and at family events.
During my career as an educator, I have seen fathers shed tears and express their emotions that they are going to be there for their children, particularly their sons, because their father was not there for them. They recognize the positive impact they have on the lives of their children. When looking at data, across the spectrum, it’s hard to find a more important and impactful variable that negatively influences the outcome of a Black male’s life than growing up without a father.
I see the important role that fathers play in the lives of our Black male youth every day. How these young men respond to authority and understand the importance of discipline has a lot to do with the influence they receive from fathers.
We can’t continue to see our Black males being involved in carjackings, at ages as young as 10 or 11. According to Chicago police reports, juveniles were involved in half the carjackings in 2020.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that homicide is the leading cause of death for African American youth.
In fact, young Black men make up a third of all firearm homicide victims in the United States. They were disproportionately victimized by other Blacks. We also see high school dropout rates that need to improve among Black males, where 8 out of 100 drop out of school.
Certainly, there are interventions, pedagogical practices and a need to understand the importance of diversity that far too many educational institutions can improve upon. In addition, there are reforms to our criminal justice system that are needed.
At the same time, however, we can’t raise these points without accepting the fact that Black male youth not having their fathers in their lives to help raise and teach them about what it takes to become a man is a crisis in far too many communities. It’s simply not enough to talk about policies and finding social programs that work. How our youth are being reared at young ages is central to keeping them in school and out of jail.
If we don’t address this problem, how will we improve the plight of our young Black males? The fact that it is estimated that 1 in 3 Black males will go to prison in their lifetime has to be proven wrong. The need to address this is more essential than ever before. The influences of social media and violent images they see daily have presented more challenges for our youth and families, which have made the need for positive influences more necessary.
Fathers are those role models that cannot be replaced or thought to be expendable. They are needed in the lives of their sons.
Yes, our mothers have done an excellent job, often carrying a disproportionate amount of the weight and standing in the gaps of a fatherless home. We thank them dearly. At the same time, relief and help are necessary.
So, this Mother’s Day, we say thank you mothers and, fathers, let’s make a promise to them that we are going to do a better job helping them raise our young men.
Jerald McNair is a school administrator at South Holland School District 151.
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