mainejeff wrote:.
One of the problems in this country that effects the development of young black men is the lack of father figures in their daily lives......67% of black children are raised by single parent households compared to 25% for white households. Rappers, athletes and other celebrities have become their role models rather than their parents (fathers). Their negative reactions toward any type of authority has become so ingrained in their lives that it has become an epidemic of lawless type "street" living. It's easier to steal, con, etc. than to actually go to school and get a job. It isn't easy for anyone these days.....especially young people. Yes, our nation has failed them in some ways.........but that doesn't give them an excuse to live like a pack of wild dogs.
What I would like to know is this........what is it that blacks hate so much about whites???

The bolded part above has much to do with the cultural divide found in poor neighborhoods and the negative reaction to authority that MJ points out.
Whether it was/is intentional (another debate that's not really relevant here), the structure of welfare to single mother's with dependent children has encouraged and irresponsible fathers who have abdicated their responsibilities and failed their children, and left them to grow up without the structure and discipline a father should provide.
This is not to disparage single mothers, who have a very tough job raising children on their own and trying to put a roof over their heads and food on the tables, nor to say that they don't need help, but rather to point out that the structure of the aid has exacerbated the problem that has always been present in a certain number of families where the father is not responsible.
That was the case in my family where my ggfather was an alcoholic and absent for much of the time when my gfather and his other siblings grew up in a time before welfare. Because there was no government aid, other family members (most notably my ggmother's parents and male siblings) stepped in and helped my ggmother who had to work, raise a family, and deal with the messes her husband made, but the government wasn't there to chase him off at those times he functioned somewhat positively.
Now that we have families that are several generations away from having responsible male role models, I'm not sure how to restore this needed element.