In an annoying yet not-so-shocking fashion, presidential candidate Rand Paul blames the lack of black fathers for the Baltimore protests.
The continued obsession over black fathers seems to be something that Republicans use as a horrible tactic to relate to the white Americans who just don’t understand the problems at the root of this issue.
Is there a problem with single parent households in the black community? Absolutely. But the Republicans spew this talking point in ways that seek to chastise these people and the black population as a whole, instead of understanding the conditions causing said problem.
First, we are dealing with protests in Baltimore because the police severed the spine of 25-year-old Freddie Gray. That is the most obvious reason. The police still have not told us why he was chased, how his spine was severed, and by whom. There are also a lot of economic conditions that have plagued the Baltimore community and communities of color for a long, long time.
Economic oppression, racial profiling, and racism as a whole has created an immense amount of problems. The drug war and targeting communities of color have helped lead to single parent households, and specifically, the lack of black fathers. So for Rand Paul to link these things is totally reprehensible.
I just wish this was shocking. We see this too often, and we need to call people out on their b.s. Not too long ago in the wake of the Eric Garner non-indictment, Geraldo Rivera of Fox News told Lebron to wear a “Be A Better Father”? t-shirt (Lebron had worn a shirt saying “I Can’t Breathe” before a basketball game). This faux idea that more black fathers will automatically solve problems that stem from white supremacy makes no sense.
My second point is that people with familial problems probably shouldn’t point to familial failings?as the reason for…..well, anything. Rand Paul wants to link the overarching issue of absentee black fathers with the protests in Baltimore. This must mean that fatherhood will affect the way children behave?
So what about Paul’s children? Rand Paul’s son, 22-year-old William was just arrested for drunk driving. This is his THIRD time he has had alcohol-related run-ins with the law. So if Paul wants to go around using the word thug to describe people for the riots in Baltimore, then he should use the word thug to describe his own son. ?Paul wants to tell?everyone else about their moral failings, but perhaps he should look at his own. And while he is at it, he and his conservative friends can open some textbooks or read some scholarly work on the impact of white supremacy. Maybe he will learn that this has had a huge impact on what we are seeing in Baltimore and not the problem of absentee fathers that white supremacy helped create in the first place.
