Cosby, Morehouse chief: Parenting is the answer
God Bless Bill Cosby! Will more Americans embrace his message?
AJC-Young African-American men need academic push, they say
Morehouse College President Robert Michael Franklin Jr. joined comedian Bill Cosby on Tuesday in urging parents to keep their sons out of the “cradle-to-prison pipeline” where African-American youg men now have a one-in-three chance of spending time behind bars.
On one hand, systemic racism still hinders African-Americans in society, Franklin told an audience at Howard University. But on the other hand, there is “important cultural work” to be done within the black community — from rebuilding families to developing good character and academic excellence.
The culture must be changed so the norm for young African-Americans is to “finish school, get a job, then get married and have children,” Franklin told a symposium sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund.
A report issued by the liberal advocacy group for children said that a black boy born in 2001 has a one-in-three chance of going to prison in his lifetime, compared to a one-in-six chance for a Latino boy and a one-in-17 chance for a white boy.
“I am often asked, ‘What’s wrong with our children?’” Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund, wrote in the report, “America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline.”
Saying “parenting is the answer” is a bit like saying “abstinence is the answer” to unwanted pregnancies and transmission of STDs. Both are technically true, but neither gets anything done.
How does a class of people become better parents when they don’t have any role models? Where do working poor find the time to be better parents? How does someone who dropped out of school help a child be a better student? Economics go a long way towards keeping marriages together. How do we improve the economics in lower class America?
Oh, I forgot. Parenting is the answer.
How does the government become the parent?
Yep, just keep repeating “parenting is the answer” and “abstinence is the answer” and do nothing about the circumstances that these problems arise in, and I’m sure all the problems will work themselves out.