According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003, there were 353,000 black single fathers in the United States, of which, 183,000 had never been married, and another 95,000 black men with children had been divorced.

During this same period, it was reported that there were 3,124,000 black single mothers in the U.S., with 1,924,000 having never married, and 632,000 being divorcees.

(Source:  Jason Fields, America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2003, Current Population Reports, P20-553, November 2004, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC; http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-553.pdf .)

"Crime has eased in the past several years, but the toll on the young in many black communities is still horrific. And I can't think of this continuing slaughter of black youngsters without also thinking about the mass flight of black men from their family responsibilities, especially the obligation to look after their children.

Most black people are not poor, and most are law-abiding. But the vacuum left by this exodus of black men from the family scene has nevertheless been devastating, and its destructive effects are felt by entire communities.

...Kids who grow up without a father never experience that special sense of security and the enhanced feeling of belonging that come from having a father in the home. So they seek it elsewhere. They don't get that sweet feeling of triumph that comes from a father's approval, or the warmth of the old man's hug, or the wisdom to be drawn from his discipline.

I don't have the statistics to prove it, but black kids would be tremendously better off if the cultural winds changed and more fathers felt the need to come home.

For me, it's an easy call: Moms are crucial. Dads, too."

(Source:  Bob Herbert, "Dad's Empty Chair," The New York Times, July 7, 2005; http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/07/opinion/07herbert.html?th&emc=th .)

Although American health officials have seen a gratifying drop in overall infant mortality rates in recent decades, they have made dismayingly little progress during this period in protecting black babies.  Indeed, health officials have watched with deep concern as the racial disparity in infant mortality rates has widened: the black-white mortality ratio stood at 2.0 in 1980, but had grown to 2.3 in 1997 and to 2.4 by 2000.  To try to understand this disconcerting trend, a team of demographers at the University of Texas at Austin recently analyzed birth and infant death data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics for 1989-1990 and 1995-1998.  Among the reasons they identify for the widening racial gap in infant mortality rates, the Texas scholars point in particular to a pronounced difference in marital patterns.

As they examine the distinctively elevated mortality rates documented for black infants in both study periods, the researchers find that black mothers are "quite disadvantaged with respect to their risk profile."  The adverse risks faced by blacks include "continuing inequality in social resources, including 'knowledge, money, power, prestige, and beneficial social connections.'"  Among the "beneficial social connections" receiving attention in this study is that of wedlock.  In both periods, black babies were far more likely to be born to an unmarried mother than were white babies (66% vs. 16% in 1989-1990; 69% vs. 21% in 1995-1998), a disparity relevant to epidemiologists since maternal marital status emerges as a predictor of infant mortality in all five of the researchers' statistical models (p < 0.01 in all five statistical models).  The researchers view "the higher mortality rate among infants who are born to unmarried mothers ... [as a] reflection of inadequacy of social and economic resources and/or lifestyle differences." 

It is hardly surprising, then, that when the Texas researchers use statistical models that take into account interracial differences in "social factors" (including maternal marital status), these models "substantially diminish the racial disparity in [infant mortality] risk."

It would appear that better protecting black babies requires more than just new medicine.  It requires a renewed commitment to wedlock within the black community.