May 25: It’s time to save our black families

By CAROLYN LaVISCOUNT
Published: May 25, 2008

Someone once said, “When America gets a cold, the black man gets pneumonia.” I’d like to quote some statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

 

• Blacks made up approximately 13 percent of the US population in 2000, but in 2005, blacks accounted for 18,121 — 49 percent — of the estimated 37,331 new HIV-AIDS, diagnoses in the United States in the 33 states with long-term, confidential, name-based HIV reporting;

• Of all black men living with HIV-AIDS, the primary transmission category was sexual contact with other men, followed by injection drug use and high-risk heterosexual contact;

• Of all black women living with HIV-AIDS, the primary transmission category was high-risk heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use;

• Of the estimated 141 infants perinatally infected with HIV, 91 — 65 percent — were black; and

• Of the estimated 18,849 people under the age of 25 whose diagnosis of HIV-AIDS made during 2001-04 in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 11,554 (61 percent) were black. 

Couple those facts about HIV-AIDS with these from the CDC Web site — in 2006, 435,427 births occurred to mothers aged 15-19 years. The Hispanic and non-Hispanic black teen pregnancy rates are three times higher than the white teen pregnancy rate. Finally, the teen birthrate rose between 2005 and 2006 for the first time since 1961.

As a community — as Americans — we have a responsibility to respond immediately and effectively to provide solutions for the unintended consequences of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society initiative. Although the black community is the most severely affected right now, one can die — albeit more slowly — from a cold that is not properly treated. All of us, regardless of race, have a vested interest in making our tax dollars count by gearing social policy toward the results we want to see in this country.

That is why this is an open letter, lest anyone think that I am “airing dirty linen” in a public forum.

America will be what we make it.

A contemporary of Johnson’s, U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, posited that what was being created was a “matriarchal society” — one in which women were heading single-parent households.

That is today’s reality. Almost 70 percent of African-American children are born out of wedlock. But let’s not forget that “cold” — in 2006, the birth rate for non-Hispanic white girls from 15-19 per 1,000 females was 26.6 percent.

This is unacceptable in a nation that intends to remain the world’s leader.

The family is the basic unit of society. Values are formed, love and discipline are dispensed and there is the sanctuary of youth where one has a protected environment in which to develop.

Bill Cosby (better-known as Dr. Cliff Huxtable of “The Cosby Show”) was attacked for his forthright comments on the need for African-Americans — and I would say all Americans — to come together to fight the scourges in our society, but I agree with much he said on the need for us to take responsibility for ourselves. (For those who want a cogent argument on this issue, Shelby Steele’s book, “The Content of Our Character” is well-written.)

That is not to say that institutional racism does not exist. My point is, we can’t let it stop us as a people from taking full advantage of our potential to live the American dream. Self-reliance, self-esteem and the discipline of delayed gratification are the tools a family gives.

My pastor, the Rev. Dr. John W. Tinsley, often contrasts the African-American family of the 1960s with today’s version.

I was blessed to be born into a two-parent family — as were most of my contemporaries. The impact of inculcating traditional values is incalculable as an adjunct to character building. Complete families make better citizens. Today’s children are being robbed of a future.

We simply have to do better.

To begin, I think we need to view this as an opportunity to change social policy so that it achieves the results we want. President Johnson didn’t intend to create a community of ne’er do-wells and mothers who are still themselves children, but that’s what happened.

When we subsidized apartments, food stamps and WIC, the intention was to provide a safety-net for the poor.

Unfortunately, we have rewarded lifestyles which led to a devaluation of all of the principles on which this country was founded — hard work, determination, patience, self-discipline and the willingness to stand on one’s own two feet.

We should be rewarding those values if we want to create a better society.

The HIV-AIDS epidemic and the high incidence of teen pregnancy must be actively addressed by those of us who can still remember an America that answered President John F. Kennedy’s call to, “ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

We can change the direction of America. Let’s do it.

• LaViscount lives in Danville.