Chicago's Real Crime Story by Heather Mac Donald ...City Journal.
This is one of several good articles on line, but let me conjecture on what a good country could do.
In case you have been in Russia for the last decade, there is a lot of street violence in Chicago. Most of it is gang related, black gangs killing blacks from other gangs and of course, civilian casualties/collateral damage. This last weekend alone, 40 people were shot in Chicago, mostly young black males.
What you may not realize is that almost every single one of the shooters and those shot have one thing in common: no father at home. The children are being raised by women, some children themselves, in a system we as Americans have created.
There are several characteristics of this system that makes it self perpetuating and doomed:
1. Mothers are given more money the more children they have.
2. They are given less money or disqualified for welfare if a man / father is at home, and
3. The mothers/fathers are not given sufficient help, like childcare, to help them become productive citizens, and
4. Mothers/fathers are not required to do anything to keep receiving welfare checks.
5. Technology has reduced the need for uneducated workers, see If They Don't Work Neither Shall They Eat.
What has happened in Chicago and other big cities in the U.S. is a direct consequence of the system we have set up, plus perhaps some past sins. In this article, Welfare, Fathers and Those Persistent Myths, says the system isn't to blame but admits:
Under the welfare-to-work model currently used across the country, single moms can gain access to maternal health services, child care assistance, food stamps, affordable housing, temporary cash assistance and job-skills training. Meanwhile, the only time the system focuses on fathers is to collect child-support payments.....
"The child-support-enforcement system isn't really concerned about whether the father is engaged in his kid's life. All it's concerned about is whether they're paying for their kids," said Warren. "From the government's perspective, if you have the ability to provide economically, then you're a good father. If you don't have the economic ability, then you're not, and [the government doesn't see] any value there."
"It's not in the father's natural best interest to be with the mother when she goes to the welfare office," he told The Root, explaining that caseworkers order child-support payments to reabsorb some of the costs of welfare benefits. "And if the parents are no longer romantically involved, the mother is now the gatekeeper to whether or not the father can have a relationship with the child. The system enforces the collection side of child support, but [not] access and visitation."
Ok, for an article arguing that the system does not discourage Fathers they made a really great case for the opposite point of view.
The SYSTEM we created for welfare of Chicago moms has unintended consequences. To remake the system we have to re-evaluate our assumptions:
1. The Black Fathers are lazy to perhaps Black Fathers have not been adequately educated/trained for the new economy.
2. There are jobs for those that want to work; perhaps, there are not enough jobs for all those that want to work.
3. Dads that pay child support are good; those that don't are bad. Perhaps, dads that are dirt poor and can't pay child support could still be good dads. A corollary: Governments job is to make dads pay child support; perhaps, government job is to support the family and even defend the dad's right to see his children ...
4. The recipients are unable to do anything for their welfare check; perhaps we need a whole new vision here. Perhaps, we need to think of welfare recipients could do to help other welfare recipients climb out of poverty and fatherless homes. For example, could welfare recipients babysit for each other so that some of them could get a day job or attend school. Could some of them drive buses to collect kids and moms and make this happen? Of course they could. All we need is a little vision to imagine this new system of self help and then as a good country to prime the pump to get it started. How about some phone abs to help the poor coordinate their efforts.
stay tuned ...
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