The media reaction to two recent stories about marriage and children says a lot about the future of Father’s Day and American families. One involved Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who said, “During Jim Crow, the black family was together,” at an outreach event in Philadelphia. The other involved Eboni K. Williams, a black lawyer and television host, who announced she is pregnant at 40 via in vitro fertilization and sperm donation.
Predictably, Donalds’ comments were taken completely out of context by the corporate press. Both Al Sharpton and Joy Reid had Donalds on their MSNBC shows to discuss his statement but dutifully kept up the spin. A remark meant to highlight the resilience of the black family during some of the worst times in American history was twisted into claims that he believes Jim Crow was “good” for black families at that time.
All change is not progress. Children need fathers. A dad is not the family’s appendix — nice to have, not particularly necessary, and not missed once it’s gone.
The left speaks “lie-nese” so fluently that many people believed the media’s fake news. The manufactured outrage gave progressives an excuse not to engage his actual claim. If they had, they would be forced to acknowledge that his statement was true.
From 1890 through 1950, black men and women married at earlier ages and were more likely to be married than their white counterparts. Today, only 33% of black adults are married, compared to 63% of Asians and 57% of whites. In 1965, three out of four black children were born to married parents. Today, 70% of black babies are born to unmarried parents and close to half of black children live with a single mother.
This is where Eboni K. Williams comes in. Unlike the stereotypical single mother of old who depends on government assistance to survive, Williams is an educated woman who is more than able to provide for a child. This explains why People magazine published an interview with her along with maternity photos that made having a baby out of wedlock look glamorous.
The irony is that Williams went viral for stating she would not date a bus driver during an interview in 2023. While it seems that coupling up with a blue-collar man was beneath her, scouring sperm bank databases for donor dads clearly was not. Williams may be rich, but there is one thing her money can’t buy: the love from a father that every child — including hers — needs.
This is a picture of the American family at a cultural crossroads. On one side are conservatives who believe that the family is the most important institution in any civil society and that marriage — defined as the union between one man and one woman for one lifetime — is its foundation. Conservatives also believe a father plays an important and unique role in his home and the lives of his children.
On the other side are liberals who have taken a sledgehammer to the foundations of the family. They reject the reality of biological sex altogether as well as the notion that a marriage requires one man and one woman. It is no surprise that people who think men can get pregnant also have no problem creating intentionally motherless or fatherless children through surrogacy or sperm banks.
These developments prove that all change is not progress. Children need fathers. A dad is not the family’s appendix — nice to have, not particularly necessary, and not missed once it’s gone. We know that father absence is associated with higher rates of poverty, teen pregnancy, youth crime, and substance abuse. We also know that children who grow up with both parents are more likely to attend college and less likely to live in poverty or go to prison.
There was a time when both the left and right believed in the importance of fathers and intact families. That time is long gone, and there is data to prove it. A recent study from the Pew Research Center found that 59% of Trump voters believe that society is better off when people make marriage and having children a priority. Only 19% of likely Biden voters said the same.
The good news is that all hope is not lost. More conservatives are becoming comfortable promoting the benefits of family and fatherhood. More and more recognized the important role that fathers play in the safety, security, and development of their children. More are also willing to counter the left’s lies about the oppressive nature of marriage and the toxic nature of masculinity.
The difference in worldviews between the left and the right could not be clearer. The fight for the future of the family is the most important battlefront in the culture war. The party of donor dads thinks children don’t need fathers. Nothing could be farther from the truth.