THE CONTENT OF THEIR CHARACTER

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream—that one day “Negro children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Today, at last, that dream is coming true, but the judgment is far from what King would have wished.

According to one of the bravest TV documentaries ever made, by Bill Moyers of CBS (January 25), there is a crisis in black America: The Vanishing Family. Behind the gruesome statistics lies a deeper story: the vanishing of male character. Only a tiny fraction of black children born in America has a father at home during all 16 years of childhood. Nearly 60 per cent are born out of wedlock. Such matriarchy is proving colossally destructive.

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Michael Novak

Michael Novak was a Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat.

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Martin Luther King Jr

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream—that one day “Negro children will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Today, at last, that dream is coming true, but the judgment is far from what King would have wished.

According to one of the bravest TV documentaries ever made, by Bill Moyers of CBS (January 25), there is a crisis in black America: The Vanishing Family. Behind the gruesome statistics lies a deeper story: the vanishing of male character. Only a tiny fraction of black children born in America has a father at home during all 16 years of childhood. Nearly 60 per cent are born out of wedlock. Such matriarchy is proving colossally destructive.