THREAD: Right-Wing Talking Point #1: 77% of black children are fatherless and raised by single mothers.

This one is a bit sneaky in the way it's constructed because it involves a statistic that doesn't actually mean what the audience is supposed to think it means.

This particular talking point comes from a study showing that about 77% of black children are born out of wedlock. If you regularly consume conservative media, you have no doubt seen this statistic. It is usually used in a paragraph in which the author discusses single motherhood

in the black community. Since the stat is presented in this way, it has led people on the right to believe that 77% of black children are fatherless. But this isn't necessarily the case when you think about this critically.

To do that, we have to focus on what the stat says, and also what it does NOT say. The only information this stat gives us is that 77% of black children are born when their parents are not married to one another. But it does not logically follow that this same number of children

grow up without both parents. It does not address couples who get married after the kid is born. It does not address couples that remain unmarried, but live in the same home. Moreover, it does not account for situations in which the parents don't live in the same home, but

the father is still very much involved in the lives of their children.

I have found no other study proving that 77% of black children are fatherless. So if that one stat is the foundation on which this talking point relies, you can see how it is easily debunked.

But what are the real numbers? Well, according to US Census data from 2018, it's much different from the prevailing narrative. To be fair, the number is still much too high and higher than in other groups. But it is not nearly as high as most conservatives believe it to be.

The data shows that 39% of black children live without both parents in the home, far less than the 77% being quoted on the right. This means most black children have both parents in the home. However, this stat also does not account for fathers who remain active

in the lives of their children after a divorce or separation.

So while fatherlessness IS an issue in the black community, it is nowhere near the epidemic levels the right claims it is, meaning that it is a contributor to issues facing black men,

but there is still more to the story. So when we speak with black Americans we must make sure we're not using exaggerated stats, because most blacks know that 77% is false. Moreover, it is not the main contributor to the plight of many black Americans.

When we repeat this talking point without nuance or context, black Americans are perceiving that we're weaving a false narrative of absentee black fathers; intimating that fatherlessness is mostly a product of black culture when there is more to it.

The reality is that fatherlessness is a factor, but destructive and racist progressive policies, which create subpar education, lack of economic opportunities, and high crime levels have contributed far more than a lack of fathers in the home.

Indeed, much of the fatherlessness issue was exacerbated by hard-left programs designed to harm the black family. Of course, we also cannot forget the impact of redlining, and the role of racism in squashing major black economic endeavors like Black Wall St. and others.

If conservatives wish to communicate effectively with blacks, they can't just rely on the "fatherlessness and welfare" tropes. That won't fly because these are clearly not the only causes of the problem. If you're going to have an honest conversation, you must be willing

to acknowledge the role of racism in state policies if you want to be taken seriously. This does not mean you have to pretend that racism is the only, or main cause of the issues facing black Americans. But pretending that it had a very minimal impact is demonstrably false.

But that's another talking point for another day. Here are some links that I used for this thread:

Article about 77% stat:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/77-black-births-to-single-moms-49-for-hispanic-immigrants

US Census Bureau Data:

https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/families/2018/cps-2018/taba3.xls

Interesting article about divorced black fathers: https://www.chicagoreporter.com/breaking-myths-about-black-fatherhood-this-fathers-day/