Let's Talk About Race.

The whole thing with Bill Bennet got me to thinking that we really don't talk about race and how it affects us in today's society. I grew up around racist and prejudice people. The difference in the two were this. The racists were the ones who hated blacks and felt better thinking they were superior to them. The prejudice people (many in family included) did not hate blacks, but felt uncomfortable around them.

The difference in my childhood and my children's in that regard is night and day. I grew up hearing n**ger jokes. My children never even heard that word until they heard it in a rap song in their early teens. My youngest didn't even know the word black. A few years ago he was trying to describe a black child he knew to me and said, 'you know, he was chocolate."

It is a shame that integration (which was vital) began as the welfare state set in as well. Sometimes I feel that as a child growing up, I witnessed the doors of opportunity open up to blacks, just as the welfare state tore down the dignity of their family.

My best friend in the 5th grade was black. We never got to play at each other's house though. It just wasn't done. My daughter never thought twice about having a friend over that was black. We have come so far in so many ways and yet we have so far to go in others.

When I was young, no one I knew ever thought that a black women would be Secretary of State in our lifetime. No one thought a black man would be Secretary of Education. With education, the sky is the limit. But therein lies the problem. How do we educate children mired in a neighborhood of drugs and violence? How do we teach discipline if there is no Father to show a son his way? Or to give a daughter the confidence she needs?

With 70% or more of black children born into single mother homes, these children face hardship and poverty before they even take their first breath. This is a cycle that must be stopped. This is the root of the problem. Not only with blacks, of course. All races must learn to bring children into this world responsibly.

How do we break this cycle? I think I know. I will share that in a moment. I do know this though. It breaks my heart to see that race is used to divide us at every turn. Liberals use race to make sure they secure the votes of blacks. But in insisting on making blacks believe that they are victims of racism and having them think the President of the United States hates them (as Kanye West tells us), only causes distrust and resentment against others under a false pretense.

Are there racists? Sure. There will always be people of hate. But the majority of us, I believe, think that it is a person's character and nobility that matters, not the pigment of the skin.

Bill Cosby took a lot of heat a while back for stating the truth. Telling parents to discipline their children. To make them stop cursing and learn to speak well. Telling them to make sure their kids got an education and to not them dress or act like thugs. to stop letting their kids look up to rap stars/gangsters. To be the role model themseleves. It's hard to face the truth sometimes. Because we then have to face our mistakes.

The answer is simple really. It's all about the family. Children, of all colors, need structure. They NEED a Mom and a Dad. They need love and nuturing. They need someone to wake them up, fix them breakfast, and make sure they get to school. They need parents who care.

Liberals may not believe it, but marriage and parenting is at the heart of all the problems the black community faces, and increasingly in the white community as well. We have to face the fact that we were wrong as a society when we said that a single mom could do just as well as a married couple in raising a child. Every single mom will tell you that it is a hard road and when you add low income into it, it becomes a nightmare.

Fathers have got to start marrying their children's mothers and STAY MARRIED. This is the answer. And all the things we do for our kids will follow from that. Parents work together to ensure a good education, a good life at home. They monitor what the kids watch on TV and who they hang out with and what they do.

We as a society can pour all the money we want into schools, midnight basketball, after school programs, anti-drug programs, affirmative action, ect.., but it won't make a damn bit of difference if the family structure is missing.

This the truth we must face.