The struggles in african american families

Today the African American community has to undergo the harsh discrimination and police brutality. The treatment of African Americans throughout the years has put a hindrance on how black families function and operate. The American Africans are lagging behind in everything that can be associated with progress, and this can be attributed to the high level of discrimination in this country which has existed for a long time, and it is still there. The fact is that from the time of slavery the lives of American Africans have significantly changed in a positive way, but still, there is a long way to go to achieve equality and to bridge the wide gap between the whites and the American Africans. Also, the number of African American Women who bear children out of wedlock is increasing day by day as compared to other groups in America, and this is a clear sign that the family structure of African Americans is deteriorating as time passes.

The home life of African American children has always been hard due to financial constraints due to the fact that the majority of parents are underpaid or unemployed. Currently, the rate of black unemployment is about 7. 7% which is almost double the rate of white unemployment, and this is a clear indicator of racial inequality in terms of socio-economic status. The median wealth of American Africans is about $1700 which is quite low compared to white median wealth which is around $140500. White supremacy is a reality, and it will remain to be a reality for a long period of time until equality is achieved if this is ever going to happen. 1% of African American children under18 years lived below the poverty level compared to 18% of all children in the US under the age of 18 years (Marable, 2015).

The number of African American children living below the poverty line is high because their parents are not able to provide for them because they are also struggling financially (West, 2017). The fact is that the rate of black unemployment is almost twice the white unemployment and this is the main cause of the high number of African Americans living below the poverty level. The wage gap between American Africans and white employees is still high even after the intervention of civil rights. American African with the same educational level as a white is paid less, and this shows racial discrimination which is promoting poverty among the American Africans. After slavery, the majority of African American lived in a nuclear family but later in around 1960s this changed.

And in 1991 this percentage rose to 68%. In 2011 the percentage of black children born by single mothers was 72%. This is clear evidence that the American African nuclear family is under siege. As a result of this, a significant number of American Africans are living in extended families and other structures of families (Bloome, 2014). This is a clear indicator that the declining of the nuclear family is leading to an increase in poverty among the American Africans. Research conducted in 2013 shows that 78% of African American families living below the poverty level were headed by single mothers. This indicates that black women are struggling to raise children on their own and in the process, these children are suffering because they do not have what they require to live a fulfilling life.

The decline of nuclear family cannot be attributed to racism discrimination solely because it is a matter that is post-slavery although there are few factors that connect the weak family structure with discrimination and racism. It is hard for black children to be brought up without a father. Also, the increase in divorce rates in African American families is another cause of single parenting. American African male incarceration is another cause of the decline of American African nuclear families because the number of American Africans in prison is very high compared to other groups. Also, the mortality rate of black males is significantly higher than black females; thus the low marriage rates. The American African family structure is not headed in the right direction, and it has caused a lot of inconveniences for black children because they a raised in poverty and they do not get to have father representative.

The fact is that a majority of American Africans do not attain high-quality education because most of them attend schools that record poor performances and have a dismal test score compared to other students nationwide. The inequality of Education in different regions is the primary reason why the majority of American Africans parents failed to obtain quality education and also to advance to higher education. Most of American Africans are located in poor urban districts and schools in these regions receive dismal educational expenditure. There is discrimination in the American educational system because for urban district schools which American Africans and other low-income students they receive limited resources compared to those schools attended by white and high-income students. It is evident that schools that enroll minority students such as American Africans are treated as inferior in such a way that some of the colleges do not offer science and math courses and the quality of teaching they offer is very low.

This result in students from well-funded schools performing better than those schools that are marginalized (Angelo, 2015). As much as this is true, it can be attributed to the environment where these children have been raised. Most of the African American children are said to be troublemakers, and this can be confirmed from the increased suspension rates of African American students in comparison with white students (Hines, 2018). The fact that most of the African American children are raised by single mothers can be said to be one of the reasons why these children lack discipline because generally, it is the role of a father to instill discipline to a child. Also being exposed to poverty, gang life among others they are likely to be involved in disruptive behavior than white children.

Research shows that students from low-income families are involved in more disciplinary cases and this is dependent on various variables. However, some people say that African American student gets suspended more because they engage in punishable behavior more often. The fact is that there American Africans children are not less disciplined than white children and the reason why African American students are prone to suspensions more often than the white student is that there are racial disparities in the many school's punishment processes (Ramirez et al. This can be proven because there instances where African American students receive a more severe punishment for the same offense compared to white students. However, it is important not to overrule the effect of poverty and culture on the discipline of African American children because they have a significant impact on a child’s discipline.

In conclusion, American Africans have faced discrimination and segregation from slavery, and currently, they are still experiencing some form of inequality in different fields which are dominated by white supremacy. tandfonline. com/doi/abs/10. 1023490 Beede, D. N. , Julian, T. com/sol3/papers. cfm?abstract_id=1934821 Bloome, D. Racial Inequality Trends and the Intergenerational Persistence of Income and Family Structure.  American Sociological Review, 79(6), 1196–1225. https://journals. cgi?referer=https://www. google. com/&httpsredir=1&article=3069&context=jssw Causey, S. T. , Livingston, J. H. , & Lei, M. Neighborhood poverty, college attendance, and diverging profiles of substance use and allostatic load in rural African American youth.  Clinical Psychological Science, 3(5), 675-685. https://www. https://www. amazon. com/Double-exposure-poverty-Race-America/dp/1563249626 Hines, D. E. , & Wilmot, J. jstor. org/stable/23488424 King, J.