𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐘 Congressman Burgess Owens just resurfaced a Thomas Sowell interview that condenses sixty years of American social policy into 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬: “𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦, 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘧 1960, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 100 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘸𝘰-𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘫𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦-𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘴.” Sowell’s closing line on the historical record: “𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘪𝘮 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥.” Read the receipts behind the claim. In 1960, the Black two-parent household share was approximately 𝟕𝟖 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭. By 1996, after a single generation of Great Society welfare incentives that paid more to single mothers than to married ones, that figure had collapsed to about 𝟑𝟔 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭. The data is from the U.S. Census itself, not a think tank. On the policy mechanism that did it. The original 1965 Aid to Families with Dependent Children formula 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫-𝐟𝐨𝐫-𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞. The federal government, in writing, 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧. On who benefits from pretending the legacy of slavery did this. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 that wrote those welfare formulas, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 that has now run every major Black-majority American city for the last fifty years, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 whose entire electoral coalition depends on the broken household it created. 𝐒𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟎. 𝐇𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟎. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤. @BurgessOwens