Moynihan Was Right to Warn Us. Sixty Years Later, Are We Listening?

Pictured here are Moynihan and President Johnson, 1965 era

Moynihan Was Right to Warn Us. Sixty Years Later, Are We Listening?

An opinion essay on family, culture, responsibility, and the future of America

In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, serving in President Lyndon Johnson’s administration, issued a warning about the deterioration of the Black American family. His report, The Negro Family: The Case for National Action, argued that family instability threatened to perpetuate poverty and disadvantage across generations. Sixty-one years later, we should ask an uncomfortable question: Was Moynihan right?

Consider the numbers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2024, 68.6% of births to non-Hispanic Black mothers occurred outside marriage, compared with 26.2% among non-Hispanic White mothers. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the 2023 homicide victimization rate among Black Americans was 21.3 per 100,000 people, compared with 3.2 among White Americans. These are astounding differences. They deserve more than another political speech or another government program promising to solve the problem.

Imagine reducing the Black nonmarital birth rate to the White rate. That would represent a 62% relative reduction. Imagine reducing Black homicide victimization to the White rate. That would mean approximately 85% fewer homicide victims relative to the Black population. Think of the children who would grow up with their fathers more consistently involved in their lives. Think of the lives that could be saved, the families spared grief, and the communities no longer living under the shadow of violence.

Marriage alone does not guarantee responsible parenting, and reducing nonmarital births would not automatically reduce homicide. But stable families, engaged fathers, and responsible communities deserve a central place in this discussion. We must also recognize something the evening news, academia, and our parents seldom show or teach us. We cannot always choose our first thought, but we can examine it, challenge it, and choose what we do next.

 The issue is not race. It is culture, responsibility, and the choices we make.