(11-22-2018, 12:05 AM)TJBender Wrote:

(11-21-2018, 10:28 PM)JagNGeorgia Wrote: I feel like that's a simple answer.

Welfare.

In 1965, black families had only 25% of children out-of-wedlock. In 2011, that number is 72% of children. The Great Society programs, for example, incentivized poverty and made being jobless and unmarried more lucrative. In the 1960s, black Americans faced discrimination and a constant uphill battle in almost every part of their lives. They were afforded an immediate opportunity to gain some sort of financial relief. Who would blame them for gaming the system then? However, over time, this marriage-less and fatherless system became deeply embedded within their community. This, in my opinion, contributed to the downfall of black families. 

From the very moment the Great Society programs are enacted, the rate of out-of-wedlock and unmarried black families plummeted.

Welfare is a special kind of disaster, but wouldn't you attribute the actions of whites before and during the Civil Rights era to the decline? A few key points here:

1. Neighborhoods were drawn up in ways to keep black families out of the desirable areas
   
2. Real estate agents colluded to refuse to even show houses in "white" parts of town to black individuals
   
3. Banks and mortgage companies engaged in redlining to make sure that black families couldn't afford houses in the nicer areas
   
4. Schools remained segregated long after Brown v. BOE, with much of the south redrawing districts clear into the '90s so they could "integrate" without really integrating
   

That's not to dismiss the obvious effects of welfare at all, but to say that African Americans were given an immediate opportunity would be glossing over what really happened. On paper, they were given a chance. In practice, it was made incredibly difficult for that chance to be taken. You could make a strong argument that they were effectively pushed into small, dark corners and told they weren't welcome, then had welfare thrown out there as a way of shutting them up.