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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Black babies born out of wedlock (cont.)

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jul 10 2008, 8:40 AM ET Comment

One nagging question that persists from yesterdays post is why would unmarried African-Americans have more kids than married ones? There are all sorts of class arguments that I've seen on the web that don't quite make sense to me. Among them--the black poor see welfare as an incentive. But welfare has been cut dramatically in recent years (five years and then your cut off for life, I believe plus a work requirement in many states) and the roles have been plunging. Furthermore, that analysis conflates the black poor with the black unmarried. There may be a high degree of overlap but those two are not the same. Any explanations? As always, I ask that we not take this chance to simply verify whatever prejudices we already have. This doesn't mean I want people to be all PC. I just don't want tautology. I know there are some folks with experience in sociology and econ lurking around here. I'd love to hear their thoughts.



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