Across the US, increasing numbers of Black children are growing up without fathers. Some of these families have been fatherless for up to four generations, which has profoundly impacted the wellbeing of their children for decades.
These families’ fathers are absent because of systemic racial violence and the many societal practices that led to this violence. Children – especially boys – who grow up without their dads are more likely than their peers to get caught up in that cycle of violence themselves.
Black boys are disproportionately more likely to end up in prison than their white peers, and Black people are more likely to experience police misconduct than white people. Large cities with the largest Black populations suffer from some of the highest levels of community violence in the United States. From murders to shootings and carjackings, the statistics are bleak.
