Ninety-nine percent of children who are Black, who live in a single parent household, and who live with a head of household who has less than 12 years of education have experienced poverty, compared with only 15% of children who are White, who live in two-parent households, and who live with a head of household who has completed at least 12 years of education.
-Karen Seccombe, Families in Poverty in the 1990s,: Trends, Causes, Consequences and Lessons Learned
Seecombe’s description applies to a majority of black children in urban areas in the United States. As a policymaker, this is where you are starting from when crafting laws. This is a harsh reality, but a reality nonetheless, and must be taken into account The gap cannot be ignored, and must be factored in when framing policy discussions.
As typically happens to people working in Washington on nights like Tuesday, I was working late. Real late, in fact.
I was organizing and administering a live blog session with scholars from Cato, and it went incredibly well.
We followed up the speech with a video response that I think is very informative. The scholars are in disagreement over Obama’s economic policy, but seem to be on board for his foreign policy…especially after eight years of W.
