The crisis for blacks continues

62 percent of liberal Democrats believe that government programs can do a lot to reduce poverty, compared with just 21 percent of conservative Republicans. I don't consider myself liberal but I'm a life-long Democrat and have long held to this belief too. But after more than a half century of observing social behavior, I'm reassessing my position and I'm doing so because of the facts rather than some political ideology.

Even though there have been tremendous gains made by individual blacks, collectively progress over the last several decades has been slow almost to the point of being non-existent. 40 percent of prison inmates, both federal and state, are black, even though they only make up 12 percent of the population, and that number has remained stable. Why that number has remained stable is answered differently, depending on your political persuasion. Republicans say it's because they commit more crime, Democrats say it's because they're picked on by law enforcement agencies. Regardless of why they're arrested, there has to be fairly compelling evidence to secure a conviction and that high percentage of people in prison is because they were convicted.

Of all children born to black mothers, 72 percent of them are unwed and 50 percent of them grow up without a father in the house. We all know that child raising is a two person job and when one is permanently absent, something significant is missing in a child's life. Being a father to my boys has been one of life's greatest pleasures to me but many shirk that responsibility.

35 percent of black teenagers are gang members, second only to Hispanics and far ahead of the 11 percent of whites that are. We all know about turf wars, rival gang fights and that most young black men who are killed are killed by other young black men.

So this cycle of poverty, crime, violence and absent male role models has been going on for a long time and no end is in sight. America's most famous criminologist, Edwin Sutherland, explained bad behavior as occurring when three factors are present: age, intensity and ratio. If one is exposed to bad behavior when they're young and impressionable, if their role models are the ones modeling that bad behavior and if they're exposed to more bad behavior than good behavior on a regular basis, the likelihood is that person will turn out bad too.

So if you grow up in a home without a male role model, your mom is hardly ever there because she's working two or three minimum wage jobs to keep food on the table and clothes on your back and you live in a neighborhood where crime and deviance is the rule rather than the exception, the odds of you escaping those negative influences and growing up to be somebody are incredibly small. And we are what we learn. Your religion, your politics, your value system, your ideals and your morals weren't decided by you, they were imposed on you by those you love, like and associate with. If you're only exposed to negative attitudes and behaviors, it's hard to acquire positive ones.

So this generational failing continues and we don't know what to do to stop it. 80 percent of conservative Republicans believe that most people can get ahead if they work hard, compared with just 36 percent of liberal Democrats.

That's because a majority of conservative Republicans grew up working hard themselves because of the Protestant work ethic and a significant percentage of liberal Democrats are black who weren't exposed to the same standard.

For people to change, change has to occur at their core and until it does, the percentages I've quoted in this column aren't going to change very much.