I recently appeared on The Breakfast Club to talk about race and the myth of "systemic racism," a go-to talking point of co-host Charlemagne Tha God, Joe Biden, and others. Democrats like Biden have been selling black people a bag of tainted goods for decades, and they're selling the same taint in 2023. Democrat politicians tell blacks time and time again that they are perpetual victims who cannot survive without the Democratic Party's pursuit of "social justice" and "equity." Absent any evidence, Democrats teach blacks that "systemic racism" still holds them back.
Black people are misled by Biden-type Democrats who routinely rely on black votes to stay in power while their policies hurt the people they purport to care so much about. Biden has made a long career spanning five decades out of bemoaning systemic racism, despite being a major part of the very "system" he denounces.
Let's face it: Biden doesn't actually care what black people think, as long as they think like him.
How much longer will black people allow Democrats to pimp them for votes?
The number one social problem in America is not systemic racism. It is the epidemic of fatherlessness. Nearly 70 percent of black kids today enter the world without a father in the home married to the mother—up from 24 percent back in 1965. (This is not just a problem in black America: Nearly 25 percent of white kids are now born out of wedlock—up from single digits in the 1960s.) While the lack of fathers now afflicts all American households, its negative repercussions are particularly acute in the black community.
Black kids are growing up without proper role models at home to teach them right from wrong—like my parents taught my brothers and me. With no guidance or the wrong sort of it, many black children now grow up to become violent criminals, wreaking havoc and ruining lives, particularly their own.
Crime is destroying the black community, and the root cause is fatherlessness, which leads black kids early in their lives down the path of criminality—at which point Democrats cry, "Mass incarceration!" Instead of looking for ways to ameliorate the suffering caused by this epidemic, Biden-type Democrats choose to deny it. Instead, they blame "systemic racism." But that doesn't make the truth disappear.
The statistics are clear: A child raised without a father is five times more likely to be poor and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 10 times more likely to end up in jail. The top preventable cause of death for young black males aged 19 and under is homicide.
Compare this to the top preventable cause of death for young white males in the same demographic: an accident like a car crash, drowning, or drug overdose. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a black male aged 10 to 43 is 13 times more likely to be murdered than a white male in the same demographic. That's not because of Republicans, systemic racism, or white supremacy. That's not because America isn't Democrat enough. And it's certainly not because Biden-type Democrats do not have enough power.
It is because of fatherlessness.
America's number one social problem can never be solved unless more Americans—unless all Americans, regardless of race—commit themselves to the family unit. Family is the recipe for success in America. The American Dream depends on it.
In 2024, blacks have yet another opportunity to hold Democrats accountable by thinking for themselves and fighting back against fatherlessness. Republicans have an opportunity to win black votes by speaking directly to black voters, addressing their problems, and telling the truth about the solution. There are millions of blacks who are fed up with violent crime, value the traditional family unit, and recognize fatherlessness for the chaos it has brought to our community.
In politics, telling the truth is what wins votes; sugarcoating it or scapegoating others gets you nowhere. Democrats have taken blacks for granted for far too long, and it's up to Republicans to say so.
The Los Angeles Times called me "the black face of white supremacy." But as Malcolm X said, "I'm for truth—no matter who tells it." Or, as a close friend put it, "The closer to the truth, the closer to the nerve."
Larry Elder is a 2024 Republican candidate for president of the United States. His latest book, out in November, is "As Goes California: My Mission to Rescue the Golden State and Save the Nation."
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
