Moynihan Report should be revisited after 46 years

The Moynihan Report was released after an investigation made by Asst. Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan who was also a senator, sociologist, and diplomat.

The 1965 Moynihan Report, which provided a basis for President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty," detailed an unstable and dangerous situation in the black community. The Report was called "The Case For National Action" and claimed the nation was heading towards two societies, separate and unequal. "The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations," it stated.

"The gap between the Negro and most other groups in American society is widening... The fundamental problem, in which this is most clearly the case, is that of family structure." At the time the Report was released, it was viewed as truth by some, but others blamed the crisis in black families on the history of slavery and powerlessness of black men.

Incarceration, the "War on Drugs," and societal racism are the biggest perpetrators of the black family being broken today. High unemployment, mis-education, and low job skills are also culprits. Hopelessness is affecting the national psyche, and a racial crisis embodied within a class and economic crisis exists.

As mentioned several times before on this blog, the wealth gap is widening. As Warren Buffett has warned, the poor and middle class are expected to pay more than the rich in taxes which is not fair.

How are factors affecting Blacks today viewed from the historical perspective of the Moynihan Report? To read and compare it for yourself, go to: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/webid-meynihan.htm

(Photo of Moynihan from Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress)

©2011 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.