Changing Demographics and Culture

A few weeks ago two men were shot and killed in broad daylight at the busiest intersection of the town in which I was raised. This follows another daytime shooting at that corner a few months ago, and a number of shootings in the area in the past few years. 

I drove through that intersection thousands of times growing up—going to school, picking up some McDonald’s, or heading to the mall to hang out with friends. Never would it have crossed my mind that the area was dangerous, much less that targeted killings could occur there. Sure, there was crime in my day, but nothing like this. The community was middle to lower-middle class, and quite safe. What changed?

Of course, it’s impossible to blame just one factor for such a shift—many factors have changed in the nation as well as in that community over the years. Yet it’s undeniable that a major demographic change is partly to blame.

Now, everyone knows that “demographics” is a code word, so I’ll just come out and say it explicitly: the area became more black. It was somewhat diverse in my day, but since then the black population has rapidly increased. I think this is a significant factor in the area becoming more dangerous. Does suggesting this make me a racist?

Many people would say yes, and that’s why even people who might agree with me won’t say so publicly. No accusation can be more damaging than racism. That charge can get you fired from your job, ostracized by your friends, and even shunned by your family. This societal rejection itself isn’t a bad thing, since racism is an evil that should be rejected by a civilized world. But what I’m saying isn’t in fact racist, and that label hinders any effort to solve the problem.

What’s the problem? It’s not the color of someone’s skin or some inherent inferiority of certain races— to suggest so would be racism. The problem is black American culture, which too often glorifies violence, absentee fathers, promiscuity, misogyny, and self-centeredness. Too many black children grow up without fathers present, and they’re taught at a young age that any sign of “disrespect” to them must be met with aggressive action, typically violent action. The music that dominates black American culture depicts gangsters and thugs as people to emulate, and women as things to exploit as sexual objects. Very little good comes out of black American culture, and it’s time to say this out loud.

Let’s also be clear about something: black American culture is not the same thing as African culture. The dominant culture of black Americans is not shared by the black people of Nigeria or Uganda. In other words, there’s nothing inherently “black” about black American culture. It originated and developed in America, long after the last slaves were brought here.

Also, to blame black American culture for certain problems isn’t to say these problems are only the fault of blacks. Certain aspects of black American culture likely can be traced to slavery and the overall discrimination faced for so long by blacks. Maybe the need to resist ever being disrespected originates as a reaction to the truly horrific disrespect shown to blacks in this country for centuries. So yes, previous white oppression shares some blame.  

Regardless of origins or blame or explanations, however, the culture itself cannot be defended today. It is a rot in our society.

Catholics need to call out this degenerate culture and do all we can to transform it into one that appreciates the true, the good, and the beautiful. We will likely need black leaders to lead the way, but that doesn’t mean non-black Catholics should stay silent. The biggest obstacle to this movement doesn’t come from blacks; it’s white liberals who clearly and racistly assume blacks can’t do any better. They succumb to the bigotry of low expectations, treating blacks like children who don’t know any better and so need to be left in their degenerate culture. Even worse, white liberals seem to have a crush on black American culture, pretending it is superior to most other cultures.  Catholics need to call out this degenerate culture and do all we can to transform it into one that appreciates the true, the good, and the beautiful. Tweet This

The least racist thing to do is to expect all people—of every race—to rise to the challenge of creating a culture of goodness, truth, and beauty.

Clearly Catholicism must play a major role in this effort. It commits a “sin” against multiculturalism so it’s no longer acceptable to say, but the reality is that some cultures are better than others. Those most closely associated with Catholicism are the best, and the more distant a culture is from Catholic values and practices, the more degenerate it is. 

This doesn’t mean Catholic-based cultures must be identical—Catholicism doesn’t destroy a culture and create a new one in its place; instead it takes the good from an existing culture, rejects the bad, and transforms every part to be compatible with the practice of the Faith. 

How a Catholic culture is lived out in South America may differ significantly from how it is lived out in Western Europe, but the underlying principles are the same: an appreciation of order, peace, and respect for the dignity of the human person above all else. Sadly, black American culture has few of these principles in place today, so it must be transformed. Not into “white” culture, but into a culture that leads souls to heaven, which can come under a wide array of appearances.

A perfect patron of this effort is Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, a black nun who founded a religious order at the age of 71 in the 1990s. She faced incredible bigotry growing up in America, but she never met that bigotry with a sense of victimhood. Neither did she ever embrace black American culture. Instead she saw Catholicism as the past forward for blacks and all peoples. 

Cries of “racism!” will surely follow this article. It wouldn’t surprise me if progressives use this article for years to come as evidence that I’m a Ku Klux Klan-level racist. But that’s exactly what suppresses any effort to help those who live in a bad culture rise up and make it better.

We shouldn’t let progressives keep blacks down. But this means we must be willing to speak out. Don’t let anyone, no matter their race, settle for a lifestyle full of violence, misogyny, and promiscuity. Instead work to transform every culture into one that more closely follows the good, true, and beautiful, one which is founded on Catholicism. Only then can we change the cultural roots that have turned formerly safe and orderly neighborhoods into places of violence and chaos.