I open my dictionary to the word "civilize" and I read: "1. to bring out of a condition of savagery or barbarism; to instruct in the ways of an advanced society. 2. to better the habits or manners of; refine."
Somehow it's lost in today's liberal-controlled America that a civilized society does not emerge spontaneously from individuals giving maximum vent to their impulses. Civilization is the product of living by truths and rules, received through tradition, that control and direct our primitive impulses, lifting us to our highest potentials.
In the perverse reality now gripping our country, what is civilized is now thought of as oppressive, and the savage is what we now admire.
Let's consider two popular subjects: race and sexual identity.
We hear ongoing concerns about the problems with young black men. But how do we deal with the plight of black males in a society where it's viewed as retrograde to embrace the very idea that there is any objective reality called "male"? It is politically correct to believe that sexual identity is as fluid as the weather. We now have transgender bathrooms so that one may relieve oneself in the bathroom that reflects one's mood or "orientation" on any particular day.
But like most things we hear these days, the truth is exactly the opposite from what is now popularly accepted.
Sexual identity is not the result of random impulses, but the product of both genetics and instruction.
Just as in civilized society there are rites of passage through which children become adults, assuming new responsibilities, so is education provided through which men become men and women become women.
Adult men and adult women then miraculously find each other and a unique bond is formed in something we used to call marriage. Remember?
In the regression we call progress in today's America, the savage rules as we destroy the institutions of civilization, and then we watch in shock at the resulting chaos.
The destruction of marriage, along with the destruction of sexual identity, is taking its toll across our society, and it's not limited to race. It's just hitting blacks the hardest, because this is a community that is the weakest and the most vulnerable to the perversities of big government and progressivism.
Per Census Bureau data, in 2013 the incidence of poverty in white married households was 5.8 percent. In white households headed by a single female, the poverty rate was 30.6 percent. Among blacks, the incidence of poverty in married households was 8.9 percent. In households headed by a single female, it was 38.5 percent.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment of both whites and blacks who have never been married is triple that of married individuals.
And per Pew Research Center data, in 1960, 9 percent of blacks and 8 percent of whites over 25 were never married. By 2012, the percent of never married white adults doubled to 16 percent, but for blacks it quadrupled to 36 percent.
Since the 1960s, both black marriage and black male identity have been deeply wounded by the assault of liberals and big government on black life.
The unique challenge for blacks is that the truths that popular American culture is out to destroy, traditional sexual identity and traditional marriage, are the very truths that must be resuscitated and saved in order to save black communities.
The best hope is getting black children out of public schools. Inner-city public schools are failed union-controlled cesspools of politically correct culture. It's why school choice -- providing education options that include traditional values -- is vital to a healthy future for young black men and the black family.
Star Parker is an author and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Contact her at www.urbancure.org. To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at www.creators.com.
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