Squires: Vote, but remember government should serve our interests, not run our lives



Luther Campbell (aka “Uncle Luke”) recently started an important debate on the importance of voting when he asked the following question on Twitter:

“Give me five reasons why Black people should Vote in the next election. Give me five BLACK promises that has [sic] been fulfilled by politicians in the last election. MAYOR & PRESIDENT”

The former leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew received responses from several prominent public figures. Joy Reid listed access to abortion and voting rights among her reasons. Ana Navarro, a co-host on "The View," listed the names of the ten people shot and killed in the recent Buffalo mass shooting as her reasons. Jemele Hill responded to Luke’s tweet by asking how not voting would help black people.

Voting is one of the most important rights that comes with citizenship. The fight for equal citizenship for African-Americans was the result of over 300 years of political engagement and social agitation. Subsequent generations owe a debt of gratitude to those who risked life and limb to ensure black people could have legal access to every aspect of political and social life in this country.

They used the political process to achieve equal protection under the law. Black politicians, pundits, and intellectuals today talk about voting in life-and-death terms because they think social and economic progress can also be delivered through the ballot box.

Unlike them, I don’t believe the most intractable issues facing black people today can be fixed through electoral politics. At best, politicians can create policies and programs that provide access to opportunity and promote social mobility.

The growth of government in size and scope over the past 60 years has unfortunately been accompanied by a contraction in every other part of our culture. Americans of all backgrounds now look to the government to solve every problem, from drug addiction to obesity. That worldview takes responsibility away from families, religious institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.

An overemphasis on politics is often a convenient distraction from addressing important changes in culture. Regardless of race and ethnicity, family formation and the ordering of marriage before children has more to do with norms, values, and priorities than the size of child tax credits or the new interest rate. Every policy discussion today can ultimately be traced back to the state of the American family.

School choice is good public policy because it places education decisions in the hands of parents, but having more options is not the same as improving achievement. Successful students need good schools run by competent and caring teachers and administrators, parents who instill a love of learning and set high standards, and a sense of agency over their own education. Voting can have a direct impact on the schoolhouse, but it has little effect on whether I read to the children in my house.

The same goes for young men who turn city streets into shooting ranges. Children learn the boundaries of acceptable behavior in their homes, not the voting booth. Politicians can advocate for policies that punish criminals to protect law-abiding citizens, but they are not responsible for teaching children that carjacking strangers – or shooting innocent people in a grocery store – is wrong.

Politics matter, but so does culture.

The irony is that Luke is one of the most significant figures in turning rap music from a genre that reported on the gritty realities of urban life to one that celebrated the excesses of the high life. What started as a raw form of journalism was transformed into the neatly packaged promotion of hedonism.

The influence of media on culture is only questioned when it comes to hip-hop. The same black people who argue that "The Birth of a Nation," blackface, and minstrel shows from over 100 years ago still have significant effects on the self- and external perception of black people also argue that the images and lyrics Luke, Snoop Dogg, and their peers created have none.

No one would say the same if white artists in any genre constantly talked about killing black men and made videos with scantily clad black women twerking and simulating sex acts. Representation can’t matter only when it comes to children seeing black doctors, lawyers, and vice presidents. It is impossible to dismiss the impact of hip-hop culture on black boys and girls if we actually believe children emulate financially successful and culturally influential people with whom they identify.

I am not blaming hip-hop for the problems in black America. I am saying that rewarding the cultural norms promoted by hip-hop – particularly violence among men and the degradation of women – promotes those same norms to the people who most readily identify with artists. This is the difference between listening to music as art and consuming it as a lifestyle.

Why would a boy ever think of getting married and raising a family if he’s constantly being told women are for sexual conquest, not holy matrimony?

This is an important question that speaks to the current dynamic between Democrats and heterosexual black men. The left is clear about its intentions and priorities. Democrats, including the black elites who appear frequently on CNN and MSNBC, fight hard for abortion and gender ideology in classrooms because their two most important constituency groups are women and the LGBTQIA+ voters.

They see straight white men as the epitome of power and privilege and straight black men are not far behind. They frequently remind the nation that black women "saved democracy” in 2020, even though over 80% of black men also voted for the current president. Black pundits, professors, and activists are the ones saying that the nuclear family is obsolete, fathers are overrated, and the government – not men – is responsible for protecting and providing for women and children.

Black men must decide whether we want to be big or small when it comes to our roles in our homes and communities. Like all Americans, we should remember that we vote because we want politicians to serve our interests, not because we need heroes to save our lives.

Squires: ‘Where’s Daddy?’



“Where’s Daddy?”

Sports Illustrated asked this question on the cover of a 1998 special report on professional athletes fathering children out of wedlock. It’s also what millions of American children ask on a daily basis.

A pair of football players – one a former MVP and the other a Super Bowl champion – are answering in completely different ways.

Cam Newton’s recent conversation with Instagram model Brittany Renner shines a window into modern family dynamics. At one point in the discussion, Renner asked Cam why he didn’t marry ex-girlfriend Shakia Proctor, the mother of four of his five biological children. The All-Pro quarterback stated the lure of available women was simply too strong for him to commit to being a faithful husband. Cam isn’t the first athlete to put off marriage to play the field, but like many of his peers, he acts as if children don’t also connect you to another person for life.

The irony is that, unlike Renner, Cam said he benefited from seeing his parents and the marriage they have sustained for his entire life. He stated that he would like to find that “perfect person” in the future who could accept his children. He also wished for the same type of companionship for the mothers of his kids.

It seems as if Cam was putting “conscious co-parenting” into practice way before CNN’s Van Jones coined the term.

Thankfully, a different Van shows that another route is possible. Van Jefferson is a 25-year-old wide receiver with the L.A. Rams and a Super Bowl champion. An Instagram video shared by the pro-life group Live Action captured the moment Jefferson received word his wife Samaria went into labor.

Jefferson found out while celebrating with his two younger children on the field after the game. He told them they had to leave for the hospital because “Mommy” was about to have their baby brother. His son – fittingly named “Champ” – was born on the same night he won the biggest game of his life.

The moment was also a stark contrast to what has become the norm for American families. The percentage of children born to unmarried parents has increased for every group since 1970, but the rate for black children (70%) is thirty percentage points higher than the national average.

Decades of research demonstrate a clear link between family structure and social and emotional outcomes for children. Given the emphasis professional athletes and sports leagues put on racial equality, it seems they should all be interested in addressing one of this country’s most important disparities. The NFL could build a campaign around Van Jefferson, Russell Wilson, and other players who put husbandhood before fatherhood. That might not sit well with the political interests who prefer to see the league pour money into putting “End Racism” on the backs of helmets and produce commercials where men in prison jumpsuits do interpretive dance moves and walk with a raised fist over the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The window that professional sports provide into the broader culture isn’t restricted to men. WNBA star Candace Parker and her wife Anna Petrakova recently had a baby boy. Parker also has a 12-year-old daughter with her ex-husband, NBA power forward Shelden Williams.

In a previous generation, an announcement like this would have caused a magazine geared toward black women like Essence to ask the same question – “Where’s Daddy?” – as Sports Illustrated. In 2022, the publication is being hailed for featuring Niecy Nash and her wife Jessica Betts as the first same-sex couple on its cover. These developments show how much, and little, has changed in our culture over the past 25 years.

The notion that children do best when raised by their married biological parents is an affront to everyone from single mothers to LGBTQ activists to the radical feminists who founded Black Lives Matter and their political allies. That’s because these groups, like most Americans, think that conversations about family should focus on the desires of adults. We rarely consider what is best for children. Every child has a mother and father, and in an ideal world every child would grow up in a home where the adults are as committed to one another as they are their offspring. Everyone knows the world is not ideal, but there is a big difference between a widow raising her children with the help of her family and conscious co-parents who think the natural family is an outdated Western relic of white supremacy.

Van Jefferson shows the benefits of maintaining the link between marriage and children. Jefferson is as invested in his wife as he is in his children. His children will likely benefit from seeing that type of commitment on a daily basis. I don’t think there is any coincidence that the Jeffersons appear to be a family grounded in their faith. Van states that he prays with his mother before games, and his Instagram bio includes the phrase “God First” and the Bible verse James 4:6. A biblical understanding of sex, sexuality, gender identity, and family is a bulwark against the shifting tides of a culture that sees the nuclear family as one of many equally valid family structures.

Only time will tell what family formation path they choose for themselves, but it helps to have godly models you can use for inspiration. As a wide receiver, Jefferson knows that while one-handed catches make the highlight reels, two hands are always best. Building a family is no different. When our children or their mothers ask, “Where’s Daddy?” we should be there to tell them both, “I’m right here and I’m not leaving you.”