The Carroll Standard

Allen West: ‘Family Values, Not Government’ Needed for Economic Stability in Black Community

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(CNSNews.com) – Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a freshman conservative congressman and former Army officer, said that the “breakdown of the Black family” is one of the most important causes of the economic disparity facing the black community.

“We are here today to talk about economic freedom, as opposed to economic dependency,” West said at a Capitol Hill forum Monday addressing “Economic Empowerment in the Black Community.”

“‘Husband’ and ‘Wife’ in the black community are at 28 percent; that leads to a failure in education and that leads to a failure in urban statistics and revitalization,” West said.

A panelist at the forum, West said Black unemployment remains at almost 14 percent -- almost double the rate for whites.

“This is a trend that has continued for the past 50 years, during both strong and weak economies,” he said.

West also noted that 4.8 percent of black students dropped out of high school in 2009, also double the rate of drop outs for the white community.”

West said the federal government has invested billions of dollars to solve this crisis, yet the statistics remain staggering.

“The federal government is getting too big,” he said. “We cannot do everything for everybody in the United States of America from cradle to grave. We just cannot. And I said we are looking at the growth of a welfare entitlement state.” ... continues ...