Black America Won’t Be Saved at the Ballot Box

“As a young black man from Southern California watching the systemic problems ailing my community, I believe that repairing our community must come from within, and the impetus is upon us to repair our culture before it’s too late.”

From Senator Kamala Harris to Mayor Pete Buttegieg to President Donald Trump, 2020 candidates are scrambling to make their pitch to Black America. President Trump, for example, frequently mentions the record levels of black employment that have been achieved since he took office. In April, Mayor Pete Buttegieg plastered his meeting with Civil Rights leader Al Sharpton all over social media. And just this past week, Buttegieg held a town hall meeting in the South of Chicago to discuss race in the United States. (Interestingly, enough, the audience attending the event, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, was “overwhelmingly white”). Meanwhile, other 2020 Democrats from Kamala Harris to Elizabeth Warren have made a stop on The Breakfast Club a must-do on the campaign trail.

But the root of the problem ailing Black America isn’t going to be solved at the ballot box in this election—or in the elections to come. As a young black man from Southern California watching the systemic problems ailing my community, I believe that repairing our community must come from within, and the impetus is upon us to repair our culture before it’s too late.

Let’s start with some statistics. Compared to white and Hispanic women, black women are more likely to marry later in life, avoid marriage altogether, and get divorced. Almost 70% of black children are now born to unwed mothers. Wedlock, after all, is the superglue of the family, and children in single-parent homes experience increased rates of teen pregnancy, dropping out of school, and getting divorced when they grow up and themselves marry.