Blacks struggle with 72 percent unwed mothers rate

[marcassmith]

By JESSE WASHINGTON
The Associated Press
Sunday, November 7, 2010; 12:01 AM
HOUSTON -- One recent day at Dr. Natalie Carroll's OB-GYN practice, located inside a low-income apartment complex tucked between a gas station and a freeway, 12 pregnant black women come for consultations. Some bring their children or their mothers. Only one brings a husband.

Things move slowly here. Women sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the narrow waiting room, sometimes for more than an hour. Carroll does not rush her mothers in and out. She wants her babies born as healthy as possible, so Carroll spends time talking to the mothers about how they should care for themselves, what she expects them to do - and why they need to get married.

Seventy-two percent of black babies are born to unmarried mothers today, according to government statistics. This number is inseparable from the work of Carroll, an obstetrician who has dedicated her 40-year career to helping black women.

"The girls don't think they have to get married. I tell them children deserve a mama and a daddy. They really do," Carroll says from behind the desk of her office, which has cushioned pink-and-green armchairs, bars on the windows, and a wooden "LOVE" carving between two African figurines. Diamonds circle Carroll's ring finger.



As the issue of black unwed parenthood inches into public discourse, Carroll is among the few speaking boldly about it. And as a black woman who has brought thousands of babies into the world, who has sacrificed income to serve Houston's poor, Carroll is among the few whom black women will actually listen to.

"A mama can't give it all. And neither can a daddy, not by themselves," Carroll says. "Part of the reason is because you can only give that which you have. A mother cannot give all that a man can give. A truly involved father figure offers more fullness to a child's life."

Statistics show just what that fullness means. Children of unmarried mothers of any race are more likely to perform poorly in school, go to prison, use drugs, be poor as adults, and have their own children out of wedlock.

The black community's 72 percent rate eclipses that of most other groups: 17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans were born to unwed mothers in 2008, the most recent year for which government figures are available. The rate for the overall U.S. population was 41 percent.

This issue entered the public consciousness in 1965, when a now famous government report by future senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan described a "tangle of pathology" among blacks that fed a 24 percent black "illegitimacy" rate. The white rate then was 4 percent.

Many accused Moynihan, who was white, of "blaming the victim:" of saying that black behavior, not racism, was the main cause of black problems. That dynamic persists. Most talk about the 72 percent has come from conservative circles; when influential blacks like Bill Cosby have spoken out about it, they have been all but shouted down by liberals saying that a lack of equal education and opportunity are the true root of the problem.

Even in black churches, "nobody talks about it," Carroll says. "It's like some big secret." But there are signs of change, of discussion and debate within and outside the black community on how to address the growing problem.

Research has increased into links between behavior and poverty, scholars say. Historically black Hampton University recently launched a National Center on African American Marriages and Parenting. There is a Marry Your Baby Daddy Day, founded by a black woman who was left at the altar, and a Black Marriage Day, which aims "to make healthy marriages the norm rather than the exception."

read on...........................................................................................................................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ailarticle

[Basra-]

Mrsmith what is the point of this article? Are you reminding us adoon men are useless?? Adoons can never change unless an entire ethnic black culture changes. A culture that is rooted is voluntary ignorance and segregation, voluntary crime lifestyle--how do u expect them to change. Adoons are just like animal--they get born by a single mother in numbers-- they grow up teenage years-- and they start sleeping around--contributing to their biological function--six or seven impregantion of differen women---they die or go to prison for life. In essense, they are like the working bee---the working bee main function is to work work work(except work work work for the adoon male equals to humping females) and then impregnate the queen bee--and as soon as they ejaculate-- they die.

[Nucky]

Somalis in the west have this black culture. I feel for them.

[BlackVelvet]

Marry Your Baby Daddy Day

They just need to go back to the church or learn to use contraceptives.

[Cirwaaq]

Say no to population control.

Say no to black oppresion.

Say yes to population explosion and the return of a black dominated planet.

[Basra-]

cirwaaq buurtoy---we get it..... ....once u went black, u can never come back.

[Cirwaaq]

cirwaaq buurtoy---we get it..... ....once u went black, u can never come back.

[Basra-]

[Cirwaaq]

I would like to shabab you, that is my perverse fantasy

[Basra-]

and strangely enough..... .....I will let you. Go figure....

[Cirwaaq]

and strangely enough..... .....I will let you. Go figure....

I wouldn't even feel guilty for stealing from your Mr husband

[shiniile9]

Mrsmith what is the point of this article? Are you reminding us adoon men are useless?? Adoons can never change unless an entire ethnic black culture changes. A culture that is rooted is voluntary ignorance and segregation, voluntary crime lifestyle--how do u expect them to change. Adoons are just like animal--they get born by a single mother in numbers-- they grow up teenage years-- and they start sleeping around--contributing to their biological function--six or seven impregantion of differen women---they die or go to prison for life. In essense, they are like the working bee---the working bee main function is to work work work(except work work work for the adoon male equals to humping females) and then impregnate the queen bee--and as soon as they ejaculate-- they die.

Ejaculate and die.

[DANGIRL]

half of that percentage is basra.

[Basra-]

shiinii


Oh look.... You have the workign bee forum name.

[grandpakhalif]

The blacks in America were stripped of their identity, the poverty cycle set up by the white devil is ever increasing