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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 25, 1981
PAGE 14
denies that it is the basic cause of black poverty. More important, he
says, are cultural patterns of illegitimacy, illiteracy and governmental
dependency.
The argument of the black conservatives is basically this: Most current
governmental programs to uplift those judged to be either poor or victims
of discrimination by government mandated standards simply do not work in
the long run. Remarks Sowell, bluntly: "In coping with poverty today, the
most productive thing the government could do would be to stop making
things worse." Governmental policies too often have resulted in perverse
side-effects, with especially negative impacts on the black family struc
ture.
The U.S. federal government, for example, has gone beyond the original goal
of outlawing discrimination and achieving equal opportunities for all to
actually mandate discrimination from the other direction.
Only it's
called, euphemistically, "affirmative action," which entails pressure to
hire because of race (or sex).
Affirmative action (preferential hiring
quotas) can actually give an employer an incentive NOT to hire a minority
worker.
�-
When a ffiinority job applicant is hired under affirmative action quota, the
government pays close attention to the "pay, promotion, and discharge
patterns" of his or her employment.
This means that if such a person
doesn't work out on the job and is fired, an employer may be faced with a
"discrimination" lawsuit of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consequent
ly, employers are very choosy about members of minority groups they hire.
Thus, while demand for well-qualified, well-credentialed blacks has never
been higher (recent black college graduates now average higher incomes than
recent white college graduates!), blacks who have no paper credentials, a
situation typical among black teen-agers, are worse off than before because
employers feel they can't afford the risk of hiring them!
Likewise, minimum wage laws have engendered their own perverse side
effects.
Governmental "charity" is anything but that--true to Proverbs
12:10 which says that "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
(Another translation reads: "even the kindness of godless men is cruel.")
Minimum wage laws make it difficult for inner city youths to get jobs.
Black teen-age unemployment is shockingly high and jumped 10% last month
alone!
A teen-ager who has already demonstrated his ability to work responsibly at
one job {even if it is only at MacDonald's) has a proven track record for
his next employer. Yet if he can never land that first job because he's not
considered to be worth the minimum wage--as many ghetto youths are so
viewed--then he can never demonstrate he has the right attitude to be a suc
cessful employee.
The problem of black unemployment generally, teen-age as well as adult, is
not solvable by government, which does not deal with moral issues and
cause-and-effect relationships.
The root problem among America's black
community today is the sad state of the family structure. Tragically, more
than half of all black children are illegitimate. The mothers are invaria
bly young, usually teen-age. In the black community there has been an enor
mous expansion of female-headed households during the past two decades-
from 23% of the total in the early 1960's to 41% today!