Dear Mr. James,
Let me begin by commending you for your Family Foundation and the work it is doing to improve the education of young people and adults in Akron. You have committed millions of your own dollars to provide over a thousand scholarships to Akron students who graduate from high school and demonstrate service to their communities. It is a life-changing opportunity, and one can only hope that many other wealthy athletes will follow suit. In addition, your support for St. Mary-St. Vincent High School, your alma mater, is most impressive.
However, with your public endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, you reveal that you have little understanding of why the young people you care so deeply about are at risk. For it is the philosophy and programs of the Democrat Party that have virtually destroyed the black community.
In 1965, the percentage of black children born out of wedlock in America was 25%. At the time, Patrick Moynihan, an American sociologist, released a study on the plight of the black family in America. He concluded that the high number of families headed by single mothers would cripple economic and political equality. He also stated that expanding welfare programs was a clear indication of the destruction of the black family.
Democrat President Lyndon Johnson chose not to address the issue of unwed mothers. Instead, he proposed the “Great Society,” an enormous expansion of welfare payments and poured the money into the black community. In essence, black women became married to the government. Having a husband became unnecessary. The result? Today the percentage of black children born to single mothers is approximately 70%, and in some communities, it is over 80%.
Mr. James, when women become dependent on the government, fathers feel no moral or financial responsibility for the children they produce. And children, especially boys, need a man to raise them. Tupac Shakur, the late rapper, once said, “I know for a fact that had I had a father, I’d have some discipline. I’d have more confidence . . . Your mother cannot calm you down the way a man can. You need a man to teach you how to be man.” Shakur added that he began to hang out with gangs because they gave him structure and protection, something a father could have given him.
Kweisi Mfume, the former head of the NAACP, was asked to identify the biggest threat to the black community. He answered, “The absence of black fathers.”
Mr. James, you must see this yourself with your foundation. You are the surrogate father to all those children. When they miss school, they receive a recorded phone call from you reminding them about the importance of education and to get back to school soon. When teachers have a discipline problem with one of your kids, they threaten to call Mr. James, and, in most cases, they straighten out.
And yet you support a political party that has done nothing to address the problem of single mothers. Has Hillary Clinton ever discussed this issue in public? Has she publicly condemned the men who impregnate women and then disappear? No. She calls for free contraception for all women, regardless of age. She rejects abstinence education in public schools. Providing condoms without teaching young people to delay sex until marriage is simply encouraging risky behavior. And many of those young ladies in your program will eventually get pregnant and probably drop out of school.
Also, Hillary wants free abortions for all women, which explains her desire to fund Planned Parenthood. By the way, Mr. James, Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the United States, and most of their clinics are located in minority neighborhoods. Did you know that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, once said, “Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated”? Hillary Clinton is proud to be a past recipient of the Margaret Sanger Award, presented by Planned Parenthood. As for extermination, did you know that over 17 million black babies have been aborted since 1973? Perhaps the lives of black babies don’t matter.
In your endorsement op-ed, you mentioned how lucky you were when you were growing up because some people took you under their collective wings to keep you out of trouble. Interestingly, you did not go to a public school. Instead, you went to a Catholic school. Why? My guess is that the public schools were too dangerous for you; that there was too much drugs, violence, and general chaos. Did you ever notice that the worst school systems in America are located in large cities run by Democrats. Check out Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington D.C.. Millions of dollars allocated for the children of these schools have disappeared into the pockets of corrupt administrators, board members, and city officials. But you believe that Hillary Clinton “understands the struggles of an Akron child born into poverty.” I’d like to see concrete evidence of that. She has been in government for decades, and has the plight of kids in poverty improved? Believing her presidency will make a positive difference is like believing you can dribble a deflated basketball.
Mr. James, since 1965, the United States has spent $22 trillion (in current dollar value) to end poverty in America. And yet today 45.8% of black children live in poverty. A lack of money is not the problem. As long as you think otherwise, I guarantee that little will change for the better.
