Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !
I'm still not talking about Black history. I'm still talking about white US history.
Q: Why do Black kids not do well in school? Is it because their dads are uninvolved and uncaring parents? Bill Cosby and Herschel Walker told me that, and they are good and wise men that we should listen to! It's Black dads' fault! Boo Black men!
A: No. Black kids only do poorly in school *in extremely racist countries.*
Black dads are *more* involved in both early childhood activities like bathing and diapering, and school aged activities. From the CDC:
A larger percentage of Black dads
(41%) had helped their coresidential children with homework every day in
the last 4 weeks compared with
white (28%) dads.
Only 30% of white dads take their own kids to activities every day, vs 42% of Black dads.
71% of white dads talk with their kids about their day, vs 79% of Black dads.
Etc, etc.
But is poor school attainment because so many Black kids are born out of wedlock? The Nick Cannon effect?
No. The anecdotes are Nick Cannon, not Elon Musk, or Larry Bird. How many kids does Larry Bird have? That we know of? How many kids does Elon have? That we know of?
But ignore these ovulation addicts. The data shows that co-parenting is the trend for everyone. And it's fine.
"OK, when Black dads are present, they're involved. But too many Black dads are just not there! Why aren't they there?"
In the US, a Black man has a 1 in 4 chance of going to jail. Most likely for "drug use," even though white folk do more drugs. 🤷🏿♂️
Most Black dads incarcerated have not even been convicted of any crime. They're "awaiting trial," and are too poor to afford bail. You can be waiting for trial for *years*.
Just being falsely arrested will likely cause you to lose your job, and can prevent you from applying for a new one.
The mother of your child will likely need to apply for public assistance while you are locked up. The state will give her financial assistance... and then bill you.😮
You will rack up debt to the state *while you are in jail!*. You will be in "child support arrears."
Most of the time, this is not what the mother wants. Her partner has just been falsely arrested and so can't help with bills. She needs to make rent or she'll be evicted. She applies for assistance not to punish her partner, but to not be homeless with the children.
Even if you are innocent, you've just gone from being an employed, present Black dad...
To a dead beat dad, with warrants for his arrest for failure to pay child support, who can't even apply for many jobs due to the first arrest.
Some of you will remember that Walter Scott was shot in the back while running from police. But do you know why he was running?
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/04/10/why-was-walter-scott-running
If your definition of "stability in the household" revolves around marital status or cohabitation, rather than this systemic racism minefield presented to the parents, I urge you to reflect on that.
I mean, half of y'all's parents are divorced. 🤷🏿♂️ That's clearly not the issue.
Another comparison is white Europeans, who don't face this racism minefield.
4 out of 10 EU kids are born to unmarried parents. In France, closer to 6 / 10. Lower the marriage rate, the more men participate in childcare!👍🏿♥️
We call them "progressive."
https://www.statista.com/statistics/276802/births-out-of-wedlock-in-the-eu/
So this is where most of the Black dads are: in jail for unjust arrests. A human rights atrocity committed at a genocidal scale. Millions of dads.
But how do some Black kids in this situation manage to overcome this and get good grades anyway? Many factors, but an important one: Black teachers.♥️👍🏿
School in the US is fantastically racist too. A racist teacher cannot teach a Black student effectively. Even teachers that don't think that they're racist, do this:
This can be countered by Black teachers. ♥️👍🏿
Black students randomly assigned to at least one Black teacher in grades K-3 are 9 percentage points (13%) more likely to graduate from high school and 6 percentage points (19%) more likely to enroll in college than their same-school, same-race peers.
https://www.nber.org/papers/w25254
White kids can benefit from this too, and aren't armed by it. Black kids from privilege benefit a little. Black boys from underprivileged backgrounds benefit the most.
@mekkaokereke This is a great thread! I grew up in Louisiana and had very few black teachers. But my middle school Louisiana history teacher was black, and she had us watch Roots. I think this was a stroke of genius because I don't remember that much of Louisiana history, but I do remember Roots!
