The Sunday Times, September 10, 2005
Article by John McWhorter argues that Black poverty in America (illiustrated by the situation in New Orleans) is the result of 40 years of misguided welfare.
His argument is that in 1966, policies were developed that resulted in a dramatic increase in African Americans on welfare, and that this ‘encouraged the worst in human nature among blacks”, “destroyed the fragile but lasting survival skills poor black communities had maintained since the end of slavery,” and led to the “demise of old standards of responsibility”. Whites in turn were taught “criminality and violence must be judged in proportion to the extent to which poverty and discrimination have coloured one’s existence” while “behaviour that most of a black community would have condemned as counterproductive started to seem normal”.
His thesis has some cogency and resonates with my own biases, but it lacks sufficient detail to be compelliing. What were the policies introduced in 1966 and did they provide any benefits that that other strategies may not have? How does this analysis compare with competing theories of African American economic under-performance?
The real story here may be the fact that such a poor excuse for journalism can get published in one of the world’s leading newspapers.