This month many African Americans will celebrate Juneteenth which commemorates a day of freedom recognizing the final state in our country to end slavery after the Civil War. Towson University, my alma madder will participate in the celebration. In fact, as part of the celebration, the University will look at different topics including stress disorder brought down throughout the generations from trauma induced by slavery. Other topics include the plight experienced by Blacks regarding housing.
Now there are some things that have impacted the Black community that are also worth addressing involving personal, civil, and economic liberties. After years of study, I have seen how government social programs especially welfare have increased crime, poverty, and the family unit especially for blacks. In the middle of last century roughly 70% of black children were born into two parent homes. By the late 1970s this figure was essentially reversed thanks to the Welfare programs that allowed women to gain more benefits with each child she had provided the father was not present thereby discouraging responsibility for both mothers and fathers.
One of the worst economic policies implemented which has had the greatest impact on blacks is the minimum wage. Historically, since the inception of the minimum wage, every time the rate has increased, unemployment amongst unskilled labor has risen. Over time this has put blacks at a disadvantage because they have been willing to take a low wage to enter the workforce but have been crowded out because of the minimum wage as employers decide they’d rather employ higher skilled workers. An example of one fallback is black’s opportunity in the construction industry as they have had to compete with high skilled and well-trained union workers. Minimum wage increases take away lower skilled workers competitive advantage to work for a lower wage.
Poor and unskilled workers have also been greatly impacted by excessive occupational licensing requirements which thanks to special interests in various industries continue to rise. This has the greatest impact on the poor who want to make an economic advancement for themselves but are hindered by increasing training and examination costs. Aside from being disenfranchised from a career advancement standpoint they like all consumers are set back by higher prices passed on from the increase in occupational costs. These costs disproportionately affect the poor due to their regressive nature.
A huge hindrance on the black community has been the failed 50-year-old War on Drugs. This has led young blacks into gangs and has made streets unsafe in Downtown areas due to crime associated with drug activity. Enforcement of the War on Drugs has drastic infringement on civil liberties resulting in unjust and unreasonable sentencing.
The greatest culprit for taking black lives has been abortion. It has resulted in more black deaths than all other causes combined, including AIDS, violent crimes, accidents, cancer, and heart disease. Black women are over 3 times more likely to obtain an abortion than White women. Even though African Americans are only 12.6% of the population, they received 30% of the 1.2 million abortions in 2008 (latest available statistics), killing 360,000 Black babies at a rate of nearly 1,000 per day. One major reason for this is that abortion providers, especially Planned Parenthood prey on vulnerable black women. It is quite clear that Planned Parenthood does this intentionally. 62% of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities are within walking distance (2 miles) of relatively high African American populations. What is worse is that congress and many state legislatures reach into taxpayer’s pockets to fund Planned Parenthood.
In His Image 