Abraham Hamilton III Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people
Abraham Hamilton III out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III And, now the, Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III is my name. I am the host of the program, joined by the Corner contingent right across from me. M, my man, 100 grand. Mr. Bobby Roza is in studio manning the controls on the board and. And in the screening room. Produce extraordinaire. Often imitated, never duplicated. The real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program. At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on family. Yes, the primacy that God places on family. And among the many things I'm thankful for, I am thankful for the one man on the jury in Massachusetts that says, I don't care how much you guys harp on this, there's no way I am going to agree to allow a woman who unquestionably strangled three of her own children to death to escape criminal responsibility for that. What will happen hereafter I cannot tell you. But what I can tell you is that if you ever have a question, can one person make a difference? That's one real time example for you. I mean, I, I can't get over, one. How quickly several of the women who are on the jury are giving interviews and one woman literally had the audacity to say, well, this one man, he was so arrogant, he wouldn't listen to anything we had to say. He. He just could not get past the fact that the murderer violently murdered her three little children. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of the point. It's kind of the point. It should be kind of hard to get past that when you have the evidence that there is no disagreement or debate as to whether that has transpired. It's amazing. But it's yet again an example of the fact that one person can make a difference. It's amazing that we're having these conversations the Family is central to God's plan for his kingdom. Central, not peripheral. But the enemy works over time to cause us to succumb to notions that allow us to practically treat the family as if it is peripheral. We put all kind of other things before it. We have all kind of things have, priority and preeminence in our lives. But the principal reality, the most immediate external location for our fidelity to God must be our families. And I don't know this man. And I hope he stays anonymous, you know, because you can, ah, you could see just as well as I can see if this man comes out, then people begin to know who he is, what will his life be like in Massachusetts. Let me remind you that this trial, took place in a suburb of Boston. All right? The man just went about his duty and said, no. Okay, M. How much y' all talk. How much y' all go through it. And for that activity, man, it was heroic. He was a hero. It's amazing that this is where we are looking forward to having a conversation this evening on the program. Thank you to each and every one of you for allowing us to be a part of your day. We do not take that for granted. When I say we, I'm speaking for our team here on the Hamilton corner, that there are so many different places where you could be spending this time. So many different voices, virtual, for your attention and access to your heart and to your minds. But you allowing us to contribute to your day, we greatly appreciate that. To the word of God we go. I want to jump into this because I don't want to run out of time. As I was preparing for today's program, the Lord brought this scripture to mind in Acts, chapter 23. And we. The verses we're going to read are verses 10 through 22. But I want to explain a little bit of the context, because here the apostle Paul had made his way to Jerusalem, where he had already been warned prophetically, that if you head to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound to. Which the Apostle Paul said to those weeping elders from Ephesus, I'm not only willing to be bound for the cause of Christ, I'm willing to even give my very life. Well, things transpire as the apostle Paul expected when he gets to, Jerusalem. There were some Jews who had traveled there, even from Ephesus, including those from Ephesus, to stir up the crowd, basically to seek to kill the Apostle Paul. And we're going to see that they whipped the crowd into a frenzy, turning the crowd Into a mob right there, in Jerusalem. And I'll pick up at verse 10. And I want to make some points, from the text after. After we read it together. And this is what the scripture says. Acts, chapter 23, verse 10. This is what the text says. And when the dissension became violent. When the dissension became violent, the tribune we know was Claudius Lysias. Verse 20, six in the very next chapter gives us his name. Sorry, Verse 26 in this chapter gives us his name. The tribune was Claudius Lysias. When the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among the people by force and bring him into the barracks. The following night, the Lord stood by Paul, the apostle Paul, and said, take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. Verse 12. When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than 40 who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore, you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near. Now, the son of Paul's sister who heard of their ambush, this is verse 16. That's Paul's nephew. How many times have you heard sermons about Paul's nephew? Paul had a nephew because Paul also had a sister. The scripture doesn't name him, but the Bible tells us right here in verse 16 of chapter 23 of the book of Acts that Paul's nephew heard about the plot. Let's get back to the text. Now, when. Sorry. Now, the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush. So he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him. So the centurion took him and brought him to the tribune and said, paul, the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you as he has something to say to you. The tribune took him by the hand and going aside, asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he, Paul's nephew, said, the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they Were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than 40 of their men are lying in ambush for him who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. Now they are ready, waiting for your consent. So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him. Tell no one that you have informed me of these things. Now, if you keep reading the scripture then reveals Claudius Lysias, the tribune immediately in the middle of the night has soldiers escort Paul from Jerusalem off to Caesarea and Philippi that night because of this murderous plot. But let's take a few steps back. So first, in verses 10 and 11, verse 10, first, the scripture tells us plainly that the mob was whipped up into such a frenzy that they were going to try to rip Paul to pieces right there in Jerusalem. They were going to try to tear him to pieces. This, this, this is not hyperbole. This is not some game. They were going to try to take Paul out there in a mob like fashion. I don't mean a mob like, you know, a mob boss. I mean in a vicious, frenzied group of people, Murderous group of people. It was so intense that the tribune had to send Roman soldiers in to grab Paul and take him into the Roman barracks the following night. Verse 11 says, the Lord himself stands beside Paul and assures him, because you read the previous chapters 22 and 21, Paul gave a powerful testimony as to how Yeshua, saved him and revealed himself to him and turned him around, and that is what whipped the crowd into a frenzy. But the lord assured him, you have testified powerfully to me here in Jerusalem. You must do the same in Rome. Therefore you will not lose your life here in Jerusalem. So that's the divine revelation of what was going to transpire. But then the Lord allows us to see some of the mechanics as to how this unfolds. Verse 12 then explains some of the Jews conspired together and make an oath that we're not going to eat or drink until this dude is dead. Until this dude is dead, we've strictly bound ourselves. But as the Lord would have it, Paul's nephew sniffed out the plot, heard about it, heard what was going on. So we have two things happening at the same time. You have what I would argue is a demonically inspired effort to assassinate the apostle Paul because they didn't like what he had to say. On the surface, it seems like these are just a frenzied mob of Jews. But the demonic inspiration was that Satan did not Want the Lord to minister to the Apostle Paul any further in Jerusalem, did not want him to make it to Rome, did not want it to happen. Wanted to try to short circuit God's will and use people to execute the plot. I want to say very similarly, we've said on this program before that one of the most amazing realities about our country is that the freedom that we've enjoyed is something God has used to have the gospel spread around the world. There have been more people who have carried the gospel from our country than any other country in the history of the world. That was by God's divine design. But the enemy does not like it. Does not like it. So he wants to snuff it out. The enemy wants to snuff out the witness of the church in our country to snuff out the witness of the family, to remove from the board if you will, God's design for the family. That's the overarching demonic scheme. But we have to be aware of the practical implementation mechanism, the practical implementation vehicle here. The Lord allowed Paul's nephew to be aware of the practical implementation vessel that was these more than 40 Jewish conspirators who had pledged themselves together. So the Lord allows the nephew to gain an audience with Claudius Lysias. Paul says, man, get down there to the tribune and tell him what you've heard. And then sniffing out if you will, the scheme, the Lord allows it to happen. Guys, you've heard me say on this program time after time after time after time. We will never out politic out, vote out Supreme Court opinion out, you know, legislative policy. Make the deficiencies that abound in the home. You've heard me explain to you. Satan does not like to contend with full grown opposition. We see evidence of that. There's a prophecy of a deliverer coming to Egypt. What's the demonic plan under Pharaoh? Get rid of all the baby boys, right? There's a Messiah who's coming. And I've explained this on the show before. Not only was the prophecy made evident in Israel, but remember the wise men from the east, the Magus. These are men who are traversing back into Israel from outside of Israel, saying where is he who was born king of the Jews? We understand Herod was appointed, but there is one who was born king of the Jews. We saw when his star arose and we have followed it to this place. But what was demonic plot under Herod? Herod? Let's kill all the baby boys. Because Satan does not like to contend with full grown opposition. So his scheme and plan is to eliminate the opposition in its infancy. You've heard me likewise explain. There are three primary institutions that God has established to facilitate maximize human flourishing. Those institutions, the family with marriage at the center, the church and civil government. But one of them is first. Which one is first? It's the family with marriage at the center. What's the demonic scheme? Let us eliminate the family. Because if I can eliminate the family, there's no question as to what society will face and will suffer. Guys, we have to understand the plot. It's not because, you know, I'm married and we got six children that I keep talking about the family. The reason why the family is precious to me personally is because the family is precious to God. And the God is designed for the family to be central to his plan. You want to have a fortified opposition to the demonic forces at bay. If God can grab ahold of us and our families, there's no question as to what could happen in our society.
A discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
Joseph Parker In the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, there are many truths, insights and stories that help paint a clear picture, a portrait of sorts, of what a man is, a real man. They specifically paint a picture of what a godly man is. Now, I should say very quickly, there's only one man in all of the word of God that perfectly paints such a picture for us. That man is of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone stands as our only perfect role model. There are, though, other individual characteristics and some of the other men of the Bible that are definitely characteristics to be desired in this day and time. There's a tremendous need in the world for a clear understanding of what a real man, a godly man really is. And there's an outstanding need to paint a picture, a portrait of what a godly man looks like, based on the wisdom of God's precious word.
Abraham Hamilton III Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. Delighted to have you here with me. I have a brother who I love, appreciate and respect had the privilege of meeting in person not too long ago. I've been trying to get him on the show, but, you know, he's too big time for us now, y'. All. He didn't he too big for us now you, you publish a new book and everything. You know, you're acting brand new. I'm joking. I'm, literally playing the, the, the brother we have on the show today is Brother Delano Squires, who is a contributor to the Blaze Network. You might have heard him or seen him on Fearless with Jason Whitlock. He writes about culture, family and faith for the Blaze News. He's the director of the Heritage Foundation's Richard and Helen DeVos center for Human Flourishing and has previously written for Black and Married With Kids, the Root, the Federalist, Newsweek, the American Conservative, the Institute for Family Studies, and the Griot. My guest is none other than Delano Squires. Delano, thank you for joining us here on the program yet again.
Delano Squires Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Abraham Hamilton III Oh, man, it is truly, truly my pleasure. you published a book not too long ago, which is one that is near and dear to my heart. that is a part of, in my view, one of the things we need to understand and ascertain in order to recognize the practical implementation of what I would describe, frankly, as demonic schemes, to ensnare God's image bearers and to get us to invite counterproductive, ideologies. And then wonder Man, I wonder why things aren't going so well when we invite these counterproductive ideologies. What I'm talking about is the book that you have just not too long ago published is titled the Vanishing Black How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage m Optional and Children Vulnerable.
Abraham Hamilton III Oh my gosh. When I read the entirety of the title and the subtitle, I thought to myself, this is exactly what has transpired. What was the motivating impetus for you to, take on this, certainly, significant, but very, very, provoking topic of study?
Delano Squires Yeah. You know that the issue of the family, and the black family in particular, has been something conservatives have been talking about for decades. But one of the things that occurred to me, and particularly after working 15 years in local government in Washington D.C. is that a lot of folks on the center left, ah, will talk about racial equity in every structure except family structure. And doing my research, I found, this is per the CDC, in 2023 in Washington D.C. 77% of black children were born out of wedlock. M77.
Abraham Hamilton III So that means that's approaching four out of every five.
Delano Squires Correct. Now, for context, 93% of white children in D.C. were born to married parents. M. That is a 70 percentage point gap. And for a city that has an office of racial equity, the fact that family structure never comes up in any of the city's, racial equity plans, it's not an indicator, it's not something that people talk about, was one of the things that motivated me to say, you know, What? I think it's time to put pen to paper. Not just to talk about the problem. yes, to talk about how we got here, but also to speak to solutions. How did we move forward? what does a comprehensive strategy look like to restore marriage as the foundation of family life, particularly in the black community? It was motivated, obviously, by the prevalence of the issue, but also by the fact that the people who speak most about racial equity and claim to speak, on behalf of the black community are completely silent on the number one social issue facing our community today.
Abraham Hamilton III Man, I want to dig into this quite a bit. Your assertion just now about the number one social issue as well as the utilization, or highlighting of disparities. Because what immediately comes to mind when I hear you say that is the first thing that comes to mind. One of the major focuses of Moses Mordecai Marks Levy, that's his real name, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels was not only the abolition of private property, but the abolition of the family.
Delano Squires Yes.
Abraham Hamilton III In my view, based on what I've seen, is that the highlighting of disparities has never been done for constructive purposes. Meaning to build something, they've always been used to tear something down, ultimately to tear down, establish hegemony, to tear down established structures, and even to tear down the families and replace the family with nanny state governmental policies. Because that's the part of the wherewithal. Because if you point to disparities concerning marriage and family formation, then that the only purpose for highlighting that would be to build, to construct something. So in light of that reality, do you think that the silence concerning disparities as it applies to marriage and family, do you think that's intentional or convenient omission?
Delano Squires I would say, I think a big part of it is what I would call social inertia. One of the few things I remember from physics class back as an undergrad is, is that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. And for the better part of 10 years, progressives have trained themselves to not talk about this particular issue. And one thing I will give former President Obama credit for is that in my lifetime, he's probably the one president who most regularly connected family structure and social outcomes. And whenever he did it, and I know you know this, he would always get slapped on the hand, not by conservatives, obviously. He would get slapped on the hand from his progressive, typically black progressive flank. So when he's on the south side of Chicago in 2013, you know, talking about ways to address issues of violence and build up, build up a Middle class economy in that community. He said, you know, he talked about importance of family structure, and he said that's why we have to do more to promote marriage and strong, responsible fatherhood. You couldn't find a Democrat in elected office today would use those words. So I think. Right. Part of it is social inertia, and I think the other part of it is that, this is what I would call the capital allocation strategy among the black leadership set. So today, among these are the people I talk about in the book is the aristocracy. Right. The black progressive politicians, pundits, professors, preachers and performers. These are aristocracy. They allocate all of their capital and put it in the bucket of politics. So yes, the political capital, social capital, cultural capital, moral, spiritual capital is all placed in the account of politics. And so what you have is a group of leaders who care far more about retaking the White House than they do rebuilding the black family. So I think it's a combination of those two things. Right. It's not used to talking about it and then also focusing attention entirely on politics and assuming that political change will lead to the type of cultural change that they hope for.
Abraham Hamilton III I agree with you 100% on that. But what I'm driving at is why it's like the elephant in the room. It's people like me in my background being a trial practitioner in the criminal justice system. It's the thing that's glaring me in the face all over, you know, seven days a week. You know, it's, happening over and over and over. So. So why is that? You know, why would you. Among the things that Barack, Obama would talk about when he talks about the family, that's the thing you want to rebuke him for people amongst his party. Why is that?
Delano Squires Yeah, so this is an interesting phenomenon because many of the people I'm talking about live right, but they talk left. Right. So. So we're coming out of the summer season when they spent August on Martha's Vineyard. The people who go there for vacation, they don't believe in having five kids by five different men or five kids by five different women. They practice the things I'm talking about in the book.
Abraham Hamilton III Uh-huh.
Delano Squires But I think it's a combination of things. One, subsequent, at least two generations have been trained to believe that all the problems facing the black community are due to either inequitable resource distribution or systemic racism. And that's why all of their solutions take one of two forms. It's either bigger government or better white people. Anything that does not. Right.
Abraham Hamilton III Go ahead, man.
Delano Squires Anything that does not fit in one of those two boxes gets cast to the side. Anything that requires agency from the black community gets cast to the side. Anything that could be reflective of, of our values, our principles, our morals, how we organize our lives, our, our social lives gets tossed to the side. So it's always about, you know, what government program we need. Right. So if the kids are acting up on a Friday night, if they, you know, get into fights, team takeovers, it's, we need to extend the hours of the recreation center. if it's, you know, some of other issue in terms of, you know, subpar education outcomes, the teachers are discriminating, the school system is discriminated. So if you can't fit your issue within those boxes, if you can't say this is due to health disparity or employment discrimination or criminal justice discrimination, then your issue has zero chance of being advanced. with respect to the black leadership class, I think. Are some of them committed Marxists? Absolutely. And I know you more than anyone drew light and attention to blm, you know, five, six, seven years ago. And we both know that their black villages principle starts with we commit to disrupting the western prescribed nuclear family structure. So yes, those women were committed, self avowed Marxists. Do I think that the average typical member of the Congressional Black Caucus feels that and would say, yeah, we want to, we want to destroy the nuclear family? No, I don't, I don't believe that. Because most of them again, marry before they carry. But I do think that they are focused on issues that they can characterize as systemic and structural and not issues that would require us to change the way that we organize our own lives.
Abraham Hamilton III Now you may you refer to something. Marry before, before you carry. What does that mean?
Delano Squires So it's the basic idea of forming family, God's way. Right. So it's marriage first, then children. Or as I for all the people of a certain age. When you, a school kid, you were here, you know, Krish and Christina sitting, you know, sitting on a tree, K I S S I N G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby and a baby carriage that even children understood the proper way to form a family. But now here's the issue today, Abe, is that there's a new family formation paradigm. Is Krish and Christina staring at their screens. T E X T I N G M. First comes sex, then comes baby, then comes marriage. But that's a big maybe.
Delano Squires So an entire generation has A completely different perspective on how families should be formed. And we see that born out in data nationally, 70% of black children are born to unmarried parents. 45% live with a single mom. But if you look at some cities, As I said, D.C. is 77%. Non marital birth rate in NewSong York is 75% in Baltimore is 83%. M in some states. In Georgia, I believe the non marital black non marital birth rate is 71%. in South Carolina I think it's 77%. In Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi it's 82%.
Delano Squires So 82% of black children in Mississippi are born to unmarried parents. The idea that that particular family structure would have no downstream social, economic, behavioral, emotional effects, is ridiculous. But for whatever reason, it's hard to get attention paid to it. And here's the challenge. The challenge is that the more conservatives, particularly white conservatives, I'm just going to talk realpolitik here. The more white conservatives, more attention they pay to the issue, the more black progressives say, oh no, that's just racist tropes and white supremacy. You just want to mimic the European family structure. So the more conservatives push into it, the more progressives pull away from it. And that is a microcosm of a much larger issue, in terms of the different political ideologies as it relates to the family. And this is why you can't find, think tanks, policy think tanks on the center left that have family policy papers because they pull back from this issue completely. Because that allows them to say that this is just a conservative talking point or trope or hobby horse. And this is not something that we on the left need to pay attention to.
Abraham Hamilton III I m mean it seems patently obvious that that type of withdrawal leaves or should I say creates the environment that feeds immediately into. And this is why we need bigger and bigger government, more and more government intervention, more and more. Hey, by the way, we just need more of your tax dollars to do all of these other things. I mean it seems like the hand in glove kind of phenomenon. Of course we're going to ignore family formation because if we look at the data that says children who are reared in an environment with a married father and mother, well that affects their outcomes. The data shows that more than likely they won't live in poverty. And if they don't live in poverty, guess what that means? And more than likely they won't need the government to help them do these other things. So it seems like that connecticity aids Them in their, they would view it as their policy objectives. But I would argue that there's a demonic rock thrower behind that that says, oh no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep it on, on the policy standard. Yeah, that's what it is. We have divergent policy considerations. This is not about the thriving and the maximal flourishing God's image bearers. This is only a policy and a rhetorical debate.
Delano Squires So, so one of the things that I, that I cover in a vanishing black family is this specific phenomenon. And I talk about how the rise of the welfare state in the 1960s displaced men from their rightful role as providers in their home. So this is, you know, Lyndon Johnson, Great Society, War on Poverty. And you have a massive rapid expansion, massive rapid expansion of welfare starting in the 1960s up until welfare, reform in 1996. But, so I actually described this as an iron triangle where you have elected officials, who supported big government because they understood that if you promise low income unmarried moms money, then those people are going to turn around and vote for you. So the elected official gets votes, the unelected bureaucrat gets to manage the poverty economy just as you said it, right? So the more poor people there are, the more caseworkers, the more administrators, the more statisticians, the more policy advisors, the more outreach specialists. And then you have the low income single moms who get financial provision, however meager it may be, get financial provision from the government. So you have unelected bureaucrats, elected officials and low income moms. So who's on the outside of that is the dad who's useful for his seed, right, for procreation. But then he gets tossed to the side when it comes to him playing the role of husband and father. And I'm not saying this is all passive because one of the things that I talk about is the interaction between welfare and feminism, both hitting in the 1960s. So I talked about how welfare displaced men from their rightful role in their homes. And I also talk about how second wave and on feminism deceived women into believing that femininity is weak, masculinity is toxic in men, but empowering in women, that marriage is oppressive, the home is a prison and children are a burden. So you have two ideologies rising at exactly the same time that that disrupted the God given roles for men and women in their homes.
Abraham Hamilton III Let me break in right there. Delano. We'll pick up right there on the other side of this break. You're listening to the Hamilton Corner Delano Squires book, the Vanishing Black Family.
When you hear this, this is American Family News. You know what follows is the truth your name news from a Christian perspective.
Delano Squires Hundreds of teachers are going to have to walk into that school building and they are forced to swallow political ideology that in many cases violates their very faith and conscience.
If you miss it at the top of the hour, American Family News podcasts are available at afn.net and sign up for our daily news brief at afn.net Tune in Saturdays at 1:30 Central for the Compass with host Rick Beggs and and I, Voter Guide president Debbie Withnow. Each weekend the Compass will seek to navigate the public square with faith, truth and conviction. Rick and Debbie will keep tabs on upcoming elections and remind us of the importance of our participation in them. The Compass reminds us that God is our true north. Be listening for the Compass Saturday afternoons at 1:30 Central on American Family Radio.
Joseph Parker The fall of G3 Ministries. This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian Worldview. G3 was once a prominent and influential ministry, but then last year the president of G3 resigned after being exposed for using anonymous social media accounts to criticize fellow believers. And then recently, four G3 leaders made anonymous accusations of plagiarism against Pastor Thom Buck, a former board member. Buck's church elders found the allegations worthy of correction, but now disqualification. But the revealing of G3's scheme led to a confession and the organization dissolving. The big lesson is to follow God's word. If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. Hear our most recent program on this [email protected] and then join us this weekend as we discuss the rise of socialism.
Listen to the Christian Worldview with David Wheaton Saturday mornings at 8 Central on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III The Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton iii. Here my guest is Delano Squires, author of the newly released book the Vanishing Black How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage Optional and Children Vulnerable. And before we went to the break, Delano, you were explaining how the synergistic effect of both the welfare, state and feminism converge to accomplish exactly what you put in your subscript, making marriage optional and children vulnerable. Would you continue your explanation on that point, please?
Delano Squires Yeah. So again, you have these two major cultural shocks hitting at the same time. The 1960s, both disrupting how men and women saw themselves one another and the roles that they play in the family and the effect that it had is that it took a family culture that was at the margins. Right? Because even in 1965, 100 years after slavery, the non marital birth rate in the black community was only 23.6%. Just call it a quarter, just for the sake of argument. So that means three out of four black children were still born to married parents in 1960. 65. But one generation after these two cultural shocks, by the time you get to 1985, it was already 60% of black children were being born out of wedlock. So you had these two forces that move that family culture from the margins to the mainstream. And what I argue in the Vanishing black family is that after that, this is a biblical principle, so I know your readers would appreciate this, that everything reproduces after its own kind. So even if the initial forces pull back for whatever reason, that that culture itself would begin to reproduce. Because now you're going to have, kids who grow up in neighborhoods where their parents aren't married, their grandparents weren't married, none of their friends, parents are married, and no one in their community requires marriage before having children. So now you have kids growing up in a community where it is normal for young people at a certain age, 20, 25, 26, to just get into relationships, some more serious than others, but some very, very much casual, and begin having children outside of the bonds of marriage. So that's one of the things that I talk about. And so I call that, that was the pathogen that attacked the family. But then I go on to talk about the failure of black leaders to adequately address these issues. And now you see that pathogen begin to spread. And then I dedicate an entire chapter to the failure of the black church in particular and draw attention to the fact that the most politically active progressive black preachers think, your Otis Moss III's and your Freddy Haynes and your Jamal Bryants, these are people who actually will be an obstacle to black family reconstruction and not an asset. And the reason why is because their embrace of liberation theology, right from, from, you know, Dr. James cone, makes them see the, the biblical ordering for family dynamics and relationships, one man, one woman for one lifetime, as oppressive. Either to women who say, I have no interest in a husband, or this is more frequently to lgbt, community. To the LGBT community that says, no, the biblical definition of family is far too restrictive. Ah. As it relates to how we live in, in 2026. And then on top of that, particularly in Jamal Bryant, I write about him. A lot of these guys are either silent on the issue of abortion, or in Jamal Bryant's case, the Sunday after Roe vs Ray was struck down. He lamented that, you know, that Dobbs struck down that, that poorly, decided decision, from 1973. And he said, you know, when, when women's backs are up against the wall, they're gonna fight like, like nobody's business. And then 15 minutes later, Abe, he did a baby dedication at a church called Newburgh.
Abraham Hamilton III I know it.
Delano Squires Right.
Abraham Hamilton III So I knew it.
Delano Squires So, so these guys are not assets when it comes to family reconstruction. And that's because they've taken, they, they've accepted the devil's bargain. So they have distorted biblical fidelity, right? They've, they have distorted the biblical text in order for the, to gain the appearance of social justice and political power. So it's not even that they really get it, but it's the idea that, oh, if I just shave off a little, what about what the Bible says about family and marriage? Then I will be given a seat of prominence and position both in my culture, but more importantly among the political party that my people tend to vote for. and I think that's a terrible way to, to, to handle God's word. And why that subset of preachers needs to be moved out of the way for family reconstruction to take place.
Abraham Hamilton III That's, that's flat out sinful, you know, that's hireling territory, you know, And I don't mean that as an invective or pejorative. I mean that in the biblical sense. And you know, I'm not going to get into a whole long deal. But the prevalence of false teachers, as the apostle Paul diagnosed it, yes, he was rebuking the false teachers, but he also talked about that the reason why false teachers had platforms because the people had itching ears and they accumulated to themselves people to tell them what they wanted to hear. So you have people who are unwilling to repent personally. So if they can get somebody who has an external veneer of clergymen to satiate their own desire to be affirmed, then hence the larger platforms. But I don't want to be derailed there because even the way you answered that or shared that portion of what you shared here today leads us to where I really want to spend a significant amount of time and I encourage everybody listening to go out and get a copy of Brother Squires book, for your own edification. There are lots of, there's lots of data. It is extremely well researched. there will be historical information, sociological information that you may not be readily aware of. And you may want to get it as a gift or a tool of communicating to friends, family, and loved ones, because Brother Delano has done the heavy lifting for you, you know, and so it's something that's worthwhile for you to share. But what I really want to drive toward is that how do we get out of this? I often say the mire that we find ourselves in. we've ended up here. The way the proverb says, as sin grows, as a man travels one foot after the other, and the only way out is by repentance. And that's not a quick fix. That's not I dream of genie, blink your eyes and then you're out of it. But we can, if we will. How do we turn away from the trajectory that we have been on and to turn toward what you describe as both family reconstruction and family revival?
Delano Squires Yeah, absolutely. And I end that chapter on the failures of the black church by saying the beauty of God and his character is he gives us time to repent and turn from our wicked ways. So, I then pivot to the second half of the book, which is all solutions. And one of the things that I say is one of the first things we have to do is to reframe the issue of family reconstruction away from the desires of adults and towards the needs and rights of children. M. So when I talk about, when I use rights language, I'm arguing that children have a right to the affection, protection, connection, correction, and direction of the one man and the one woman that created him or her, and that that right is best exercised in a loving, low conflict household with a married mom and dad, point blank, period. So that. So that's the issue. Not what did the adults want, not can. How do they make the family of their dreams, Even if it's, you know, two guys or two women, you know, I want this. I desire this. So. So the government should do everything that. That it. That I. That I demand in order to give me the family of my dreams. No, the issue is about what is best for children, the rights that they have. So. So once you get the framing right, I start by saying, by far the most important institution in a reconstruction movement is the church. And. And I praise God for churches that are, and pastors that have faithfully teach the Bible, faithfully teach God's design when it comes to the family. I was in. I was in South Carolina a couple weeks ago at a conference with Christian families Against Destructive Decision cfad. and. And they have what they call the Eden reset, where they're helping couples, you know, get back to God's design for the family. Not, only that they purchased 127 acre parcel of land in, close to where the church is at as a family restoration center. So there are churches doing the Lord's work as it relates to this particular issue. But I think other institutions can play a role. So I write in a book about the role HBCUs can play. whether that's holding conferences. I've drafted a proposal for hbcu, Marriage and Family Consortium that would do original research on attitudes and views around relationships, marriage, family, children. I would love to see HBCUs do surveys both to students, asking them questions such as, okay, would you be open to meeting a spouse over the next four years while you're on campus? And then also to alumni, particularly for alumni who have kids. would you be open to your child meeting a spouse? Or what age do you think is most appropriate for your child to think about marriage and starting a family? So it's the church house, it's the schoolhouse.
Abraham Hamilton III Let me ask you one quick question on that. How has the response been to that, to the proposal to HBCUs? Have they been, have they been receptive? Have they been hostile? Have they been lukewarm?
Delano Squires Have not, not hostile. Nobody is bitten yet in terms of saying, yes, I want to take this proposal and make this happen. but, but I've heard, you know, the people I've shared it with have been open to the idea. So I'm actually trying to do some more work and establish some more relationship. Yeah, I'd love to connect with the president Tuskegee, because clearly he's setting some standards and, you know, putting his foot down on certain things.
Abraham Hamilton III A bonnet free zone over there, you know what I'm saying?
Delano Squires Right, right, right, right, right.
Abraham Hamilton III Yeah. But continue. I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your momentum. I just, I was intrigued by that idea.
Delano Squires Yeah, so, so it's HBCUs, but also on a K through 12 level. It's, it's introducing the success sequence to, to middle school, high school students long before they make the decision to start a family. That can be done in, during class time, that can be done in, out of school time, that can be done through public awareness campaigns. And I know several states have already begun to do that. so, yes, church house, schoolhouse, the state house plays a role. Right. The government obviously has played, done much mischief when it comes to family formation, but I do think there's A limited role that the government can play. again, on a basic level, that could be using the bully pulpit for public officials to constantly affirm the importance of the family as the most important institution. More important than their office is the family. But that can also be, you know, using existing federal grants. One of the ideas I have in the book is around a marriage boot camp for cohabiting couples who share at least one biological child. And the success in that boot camp would not be, well, we have better feelings now at the end of the program than the beginning. Success would mean we're going through this six month or one year, however long program and at the end we are walking down the aisle at a communal wedding. Invite, you know, friends, family, you know, grandma, granddad, cousins, auntie and all them. They're going to come out to wherever it's being held and celebrate with us as we move M From, you know, cohabitation to holy matrimony. One of the ideas that I had in the book is that if you could find a private funder, let's say a family foundation, it would be an interesting idea to say, to offer those couples some financial incentive, whether it's 5007, $510,000 structured as a, as a grant or as a loan that will be fully forgiven after 10 years. But it would show the importance of getting married, particularly to people who come from communities and cultures, family cultures, where they have not seen a marriage in the last three generations. M. So I think there's an appropriate role for the state House. And then of the four houses that I mentioned, last one is the Art house. And this is where I dedicated an entire chapter to the importance of art, media and culture. I talk film. I start with Birth of the Nation. I talk about Oscar Myshel, and his independent film company to counter that sort of racist propaganda. And then I get to modern day, right? I talk about the impact that, that gangster, rap and hip hop has had since the late 90s. And one of the things that I say, the thesis of that chapter A is that you cannot sow Snoop Dogg and reap the Cosby family, right? You, you can't continuously push messages into your community and culture that degrade women and devalue them as wives, as mothers, that disrespect them and think that that won't have an impact on how young men see young women in their community. So is really a call for, better, you know, better images and perspectives on marriage and family using the most popular and important and consequential tools that are in the culture now for people of a certain age. They'll think music, TV and film, but particularly for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, that that may mean. And I say this tongue in cheek, that may mean a ban on all relationship podcasts. Because every day that I open up social media, I see somebody cut on a mic and say, oh, I think all women need a whole face. So I don't mean to, you know, use strong language, but these are the things that, that or I, I'm, I'm. I'm polyamorous. Right. So I can't. One woman is not enough to satisfy me. So, so part of it is presenting more positive and realistic images of what marriage looks like, the beauty of marriage to a new generation who's never seen it.
Abraham Hamilton III And I. So that's, I'd say biblical. Biblical. but go ahead. I'm sorry, I don't want to cut you off.
Delano Squires No, so, so, so, so that's what it's about. And obviously I'm a Christian writing a book about the family, so I make, you know, numerous references to the biblical design, biblical order. But I also acknowledge that marriage is a common, common grace. Designed by God, right, to be enjoyed by his people, but also beneficial to people who don't even believe in God. And I liken this to someone who lives in a home that was designed by an architect that they neither know nor acknowledge. Now, you can benefit from it. You can make family memories. But if we want to get down to the hard work of, rebuilding after there's been catastrophic damage done to that structure, you need a blueprint and you need to know who the architect is. And this is why to me it's important to always. Even though it's a book on the black family, reconstruction has to be done from a biblical perspective. Because race alone, is not going to be enough to reconstruct. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Darkness is not an affirmative force. It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
Abraham Hamilton III This is the, Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite, delivering people
Abraham Hamilton III out of the bondage of mainstream media and the philosophies of this world.
Abraham Hamilton III God has called you and me to be his ambassadors even in this dark moment. Let's not miss our moment.
Abraham Hamilton III And, now the, Hamilton Corner.
Abraham Hamilton III Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III is my name. I am the host of the program, joined by the Corner contingent right across from me. M, my man, 100 grand. Mr. Bobby Roza is in studio manning the controls on the board and. And in the screening room. Produce extraordinaire. Often imitated, never duplicated. The real J. Mac, ladies and gentlemen, and we are ready to rock and roll with today's edition of the program. At this very moment, many of you, if not most of you, are making your transition from your part time jobs where you generate an income, to your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome. And as you do so, I want to remind you to do so with intentionality, understanding the primacy that God places on family. Yes, the primacy that God places on family. And among the many things I'm thankful for, I am thankful for the one man on the jury in Massachusetts that says, I don't care how much you guys harp on this, there's no way I am going to agree to allow a woman who unquestionably strangled three of her own children to death to escape criminal responsibility for that. What will happen hereafter I cannot tell you. But what I can tell you is that if you ever have a question, can one person make a difference? That's one real time example for you. I mean, I, I can't get over, one. How quickly several of the women who are on the jury are giving interviews and one woman literally had the audacity to say, well, this one man, he was so arrogant, he wouldn't listen to anything we had to say. He. He just could not get past the fact that the murderer violently murdered her three little children. Yeah, yeah, that's kind of the point. It's kind of the point. It should be kind of hard to get past that when you have the evidence that there is no disagreement or debate as to whether that has transpired. It's amazing. But it's yet again an example of the fact that one person can make a difference. It's amazing that we're having these conversations the Family is central to God's plan for his kingdom. Central, not peripheral. But the enemy works over time to cause us to succumb to notions that allow us to practically treat the family as if it is peripheral. We put all kind of other things before it. We have all kind of things have, priority and preeminence in our lives. But the principal reality, the most immediate external location for our fidelity to God must be our families. And I don't know this man. And I hope he stays anonymous, you know, because you can, ah, you could see just as well as I can see if this man comes out, then people begin to know who he is, what will his life be like in Massachusetts. Let me remind you that this trial, took place in a suburb of Boston. All right? The man just went about his duty and said, no. Okay, M. How much y' all talk. How much y' all go through it. And for that activity, man, it was heroic. He was a hero. It's amazing that this is where we are looking forward to having a conversation this evening on the program. Thank you to each and every one of you for allowing us to be a part of your day. We do not take that for granted. When I say we, I'm speaking for our team here on the Hamilton corner, that there are so many different places where you could be spending this time. So many different voices, virtual, for your attention and access to your heart and to your minds. But you allowing us to contribute to your day, we greatly appreciate that. To the word of God we go. I want to jump into this because I don't want to run out of time. As I was preparing for today's program, the Lord brought this scripture to mind in Acts, chapter 23. And we. The verses we're going to read are verses 10 through 22. But I want to explain a little bit of the context, because here the apostle Paul had made his way to Jerusalem, where he had already been warned prophetically, that if you head to Jerusalem, you're going to be bound to. Which the Apostle Paul said to those weeping elders from Ephesus, I'm not only willing to be bound for the cause of Christ, I'm willing to even give my very life. Well, things transpire as the apostle Paul expected when he gets to, Jerusalem. There were some Jews who had traveled there, even from Ephesus, including those from Ephesus, to stir up the crowd, basically to seek to kill the Apostle Paul. And we're going to see that they whipped the crowd into a frenzy, turning the crowd Into a mob right there, in Jerusalem. And I'll pick up at verse 10. And I want to make some points, from the text after. After we read it together. And this is what the scripture says. Acts, chapter 23, verse 10. This is what the text says. And when the dissension became violent. When the dissension became violent, the tribune we know was Claudius Lysias. Verse 20, six in the very next chapter gives us his name. Sorry, Verse 26 in this chapter gives us his name. The tribune was Claudius Lysias. When the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among the people by force and bring him into the barracks. The following night, the Lord stood by Paul, the apostle Paul, and said, take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. Verse 12. When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than 40 who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore, you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near. Now, the son of Paul's sister who heard of their ambush, this is verse 16. That's Paul's nephew. How many times have you heard sermons about Paul's nephew? Paul had a nephew because Paul also had a sister. The scripture doesn't name him, but the Bible tells us right here in verse 16 of chapter 23 of the book of Acts that Paul's nephew heard about the plot. Let's get back to the text. Now, when. Sorry. Now, the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush. So he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him. So the centurion took him and brought him to the tribune and said, paul, the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you as he has something to say to you. The tribune took him by the hand and going aside, asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he, Paul's nephew, said, the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they Were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than 40 of their men are lying in ambush for him who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. Now they are ready, waiting for your consent. So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him. Tell no one that you have informed me of these things. Now, if you keep reading the scripture then reveals Claudius Lysias, the tribune immediately in the middle of the night has soldiers escort Paul from Jerusalem off to Caesarea and Philippi that night because of this murderous plot. But let's take a few steps back. So first, in verses 10 and 11, verse 10, first, the scripture tells us plainly that the mob was whipped up into such a frenzy that they were going to try to rip Paul to pieces right there in Jerusalem. They were going to try to tear him to pieces. This, this, this is not hyperbole. This is not some game. They were going to try to take Paul out there in a mob like fashion. I don't mean a mob like, you know, a mob boss. I mean in a vicious, frenzied group of people, Murderous group of people. It was so intense that the tribune had to send Roman soldiers in to grab Paul and take him into the Roman barracks the following night. Verse 11 says, the Lord himself stands beside Paul and assures him, because you read the previous chapters 22 and 21, Paul gave a powerful testimony as to how Yeshua, saved him and revealed himself to him and turned him around, and that is what whipped the crowd into a frenzy. But the lord assured him, you have testified powerfully to me here in Jerusalem. You must do the same in Rome. Therefore you will not lose your life here in Jerusalem. So that's the divine revelation of what was going to transpire. But then the Lord allows us to see some of the mechanics as to how this unfolds. Verse 12 then explains some of the Jews conspired together and make an oath that we're not going to eat or drink until this dude is dead. Until this dude is dead, we've strictly bound ourselves. But as the Lord would have it, Paul's nephew sniffed out the plot, heard about it, heard what was going on. So we have two things happening at the same time. You have what I would argue is a demonically inspired effort to assassinate the apostle Paul because they didn't like what he had to say. On the surface, it seems like these are just a frenzied mob of Jews. But the demonic inspiration was that Satan did not Want the Lord to minister to the Apostle Paul any further in Jerusalem, did not want him to make it to Rome, did not want it to happen. Wanted to try to short circuit God's will and use people to execute the plot. I want to say very similarly, we've said on this program before that one of the most amazing realities about our country is that the freedom that we've enjoyed is something God has used to have the gospel spread around the world. There have been more people who have carried the gospel from our country than any other country in the history of the world. That was by God's divine design. But the enemy does not like it. Does not like it. So he wants to snuff it out. The enemy wants to snuff out the witness of the church in our country to snuff out the witness of the family, to remove from the board if you will, God's design for the family. That's the overarching demonic scheme. But we have to be aware of the practical implementation mechanism, the practical implementation vehicle here. The Lord allowed Paul's nephew to be aware of the practical implementation vessel that was these more than 40 Jewish conspirators who had pledged themselves together. So the Lord allows the nephew to gain an audience with Claudius Lysias. Paul says, man, get down there to the tribune and tell him what you've heard. And then sniffing out if you will, the scheme, the Lord allows it to happen. Guys, you've heard me say on this program time after time after time after time. We will never out politic out, vote out Supreme Court opinion out, you know, legislative policy. Make the deficiencies that abound in the home. You've heard me explain to you. Satan does not like to contend with full grown opposition. We see evidence of that. There's a prophecy of a deliverer coming to Egypt. What's the demonic plan under Pharaoh? Get rid of all the baby boys, right? There's a Messiah who's coming. And I've explained this on the show before. Not only was the prophecy made evident in Israel, but remember the wise men from the east, the Magus. These are men who are traversing back into Israel from outside of Israel, saying where is he who was born king of the Jews? We understand Herod was appointed, but there is one who was born king of the Jews. We saw when his star arose and we have followed it to this place. But what was demonic plot under Herod? Herod? Let's kill all the baby boys. Because Satan does not like to contend with full grown opposition. So his scheme and plan is to eliminate the opposition in its infancy. You've heard me likewise explain. There are three primary institutions that God has established to facilitate maximize human flourishing. Those institutions, the family with marriage at the center, the church and civil government. But one of them is first. Which one is first? It's the family with marriage at the center. What's the demonic scheme? Let us eliminate the family. Because if I can eliminate the family, there's no question as to what society will face and will suffer. Guys, we have to understand the plot. It's not because, you know, I'm married and we got six children that I keep talking about the family. The reason why the family is precious to me personally is because the family is precious to God. And the God is designed for the family to be central to his plan. You want to have a fortified opposition to the demonic forces at bay. If God can grab ahold of us and our families, there's no question as to what could happen in our society.
A discipleship minute with Joseph Parker.
Joseph Parker In the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation, there are many truths, insights and stories that help paint a clear picture, a portrait of sorts, of what a man is, a real man. They specifically paint a picture of what a godly man is. Now, I should say very quickly, there's only one man in all of the word of God that perfectly paints such a picture for us. That man is of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone stands as our only perfect role model. There are, though, other individual characteristics and some of the other men of the Bible that are definitely characteristics to be desired in this day and time. There's a tremendous need in the world for a clear understanding of what a real man, a godly man really is. And there's an outstanding need to paint a picture, a portrait of what a godly man looks like, based on the wisdom of God's precious word.
Abraham Hamilton III Shining light into the darkness. This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner. Abraham Hamilton III here. Delighted to have you here with me. I have a brother who I love, appreciate and respect had the privilege of meeting in person not too long ago. I've been trying to get him on the show, but, you know, he's too big time for us now, y'. All. He didn't he too big for us now you, you publish a new book and everything. You know, you're acting brand new. I'm joking. I'm, literally playing the, the, the brother we have on the show today is Brother Delano Squires, who is a contributor to the Blaze Network. You might have heard him or seen him on Fearless with Jason Whitlock. He writes about culture, family and faith for the Blaze News. He's the director of the Heritage Foundation's Richard and Helen DeVos center for Human Flourishing and has previously written for Black and Married With Kids, the Root, the Federalist, Newsweek, the American Conservative, the Institute for Family Studies, and the Griot. My guest is none other than Delano Squires. Delano, thank you for joining us here on the program yet again.
Delano Squires Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Abraham Hamilton III Oh, man, it is truly, truly my pleasure. you published a book not too long ago, which is one that is near and dear to my heart. that is a part of, in my view, one of the things we need to understand and ascertain in order to recognize the practical implementation of what I would describe, frankly, as demonic schemes, to ensnare God's image bearers and to get us to invite counterproductive, ideologies. And then wonder Man, I wonder why things aren't going so well when we invite these counterproductive ideologies. What I'm talking about is the book that you have just not too long ago published is titled the Vanishing Black How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage m Optional and Children Vulnerable.
Abraham Hamilton III Oh my gosh. When I read the entirety of the title and the subtitle, I thought to myself, this is exactly what has transpired. What was the motivating impetus for you to, take on this, certainly, significant, but very, very, provoking topic of study?
Delano Squires Yeah. You know that the issue of the family, and the black family in particular, has been something conservatives have been talking about for decades. But one of the things that occurred to me, and particularly after working 15 years in local government in Washington D.C. is that a lot of folks on the center left, ah, will talk about racial equity in every structure except family structure. And doing my research, I found, this is per the CDC, in 2023 in Washington D.C. 77% of black children were born out of wedlock. M77.
Abraham Hamilton III So that means that's approaching four out of every five.
Delano Squires Correct. Now, for context, 93% of white children in D.C. were born to married parents. M. That is a 70 percentage point gap. And for a city that has an office of racial equity, the fact that family structure never comes up in any of the city's, racial equity plans, it's not an indicator, it's not something that people talk about, was one of the things that motivated me to say, you know, What? I think it's time to put pen to paper. Not just to talk about the problem. yes, to talk about how we got here, but also to speak to solutions. How did we move forward? what does a comprehensive strategy look like to restore marriage as the foundation of family life, particularly in the black community? It was motivated, obviously, by the prevalence of the issue, but also by the fact that the people who speak most about racial equity and claim to speak, on behalf of the black community are completely silent on the number one social issue facing our community today.
Abraham Hamilton III Man, I want to dig into this quite a bit. Your assertion just now about the number one social issue as well as the utilization, or highlighting of disparities. Because what immediately comes to mind when I hear you say that is the first thing that comes to mind. One of the major focuses of Moses Mordecai Marks Levy, that's his real name, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels was not only the abolition of private property, but the abolition of the family.
Delano Squires Yes.
Abraham Hamilton III In my view, based on what I've seen, is that the highlighting of disparities has never been done for constructive purposes. Meaning to build something, they've always been used to tear something down, ultimately to tear down, establish hegemony, to tear down established structures, and even to tear down the families and replace the family with nanny state governmental policies. Because that's the part of the wherewithal. Because if you point to disparities concerning marriage and family formation, then that the only purpose for highlighting that would be to build, to construct something. So in light of that reality, do you think that the silence concerning disparities as it applies to marriage and family, do you think that's intentional or convenient omission?
Delano Squires I would say, I think a big part of it is what I would call social inertia. One of the few things I remember from physics class back as an undergrad is, is that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. And for the better part of 10 years, progressives have trained themselves to not talk about this particular issue. And one thing I will give former President Obama credit for is that in my lifetime, he's probably the one president who most regularly connected family structure and social outcomes. And whenever he did it, and I know you know this, he would always get slapped on the hand, not by conservatives, obviously. He would get slapped on the hand from his progressive, typically black progressive flank. So when he's on the south side of Chicago in 2013, you know, talking about ways to address issues of violence and build up, build up a Middle class economy in that community. He said, you know, he talked about importance of family structure, and he said that's why we have to do more to promote marriage and strong, responsible fatherhood. You couldn't find a Democrat in elected office today would use those words. So I think. Right. Part of it is social inertia, and I think the other part of it is that, this is what I would call the capital allocation strategy among the black leadership set. So today, among these are the people I talk about in the book is the aristocracy. Right. The black progressive politicians, pundits, professors, preachers and performers. These are aristocracy. They allocate all of their capital and put it in the bucket of politics. So yes, the political capital, social capital, cultural capital, moral, spiritual capital is all placed in the account of politics. And so what you have is a group of leaders who care far more about retaking the White House than they do rebuilding the black family. So I think it's a combination of those two things. Right. It's not used to talking about it and then also focusing attention entirely on politics and assuming that political change will lead to the type of cultural change that they hope for.
Abraham Hamilton III I agree with you 100% on that. But what I'm driving at is why it's like the elephant in the room. It's people like me in my background being a trial practitioner in the criminal justice system. It's the thing that's glaring me in the face all over, you know, seven days a week. You know, it's, happening over and over and over. So. So why is that? You know, why would you. Among the things that Barack, Obama would talk about when he talks about the family, that's the thing you want to rebuke him for people amongst his party. Why is that?
Delano Squires Yeah, so this is an interesting phenomenon because many of the people I'm talking about live right, but they talk left. Right. So. So we're coming out of the summer season when they spent August on Martha's Vineyard. The people who go there for vacation, they don't believe in having five kids by five different men or five kids by five different women. They practice the things I'm talking about in the book.
Abraham Hamilton III Uh-huh.
Delano Squires But I think it's a combination of things. One, subsequent, at least two generations have been trained to believe that all the problems facing the black community are due to either inequitable resource distribution or systemic racism. And that's why all of their solutions take one of two forms. It's either bigger government or better white people. Anything that does not. Right.
Abraham Hamilton III Go ahead, man.
Delano Squires Anything that does not fit in one of those two boxes gets cast to the side. Anything that requires agency from the black community gets cast to the side. Anything that could be reflective of, of our values, our principles, our morals, how we organize our lives, our, our social lives gets tossed to the side. So it's always about, you know, what government program we need. Right. So if the kids are acting up on a Friday night, if they, you know, get into fights, team takeovers, it's, we need to extend the hours of the recreation center. if it's, you know, some of other issue in terms of, you know, subpar education outcomes, the teachers are discriminating, the school system is discriminated. So if you can't fit your issue within those boxes, if you can't say this is due to health disparity or employment discrimination or criminal justice discrimination, then your issue has zero chance of being advanced. with respect to the black leadership class, I think. Are some of them committed Marxists? Absolutely. And I know you more than anyone drew light and attention to blm, you know, five, six, seven years ago. And we both know that their black villages principle starts with we commit to disrupting the western prescribed nuclear family structure. So yes, those women were committed, self avowed Marxists. Do I think that the average typical member of the Congressional Black Caucus feels that and would say, yeah, we want to, we want to destroy the nuclear family? No, I don't, I don't believe that. Because most of them again, marry before they carry. But I do think that they are focused on issues that they can characterize as systemic and structural and not issues that would require us to change the way that we organize our own lives.
Abraham Hamilton III Now you may you refer to something. Marry before, before you carry. What does that mean?
Delano Squires So it's the basic idea of forming family, God's way. Right. So it's marriage first, then children. Or as I for all the people of a certain age. When you, a school kid, you were here, you know, Krish and Christina sitting, you know, sitting on a tree, K I S S I N G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby and a baby carriage that even children understood the proper way to form a family. But now here's the issue today, Abe, is that there's a new family formation paradigm. Is Krish and Christina staring at their screens. T E X T I N G M. First comes sex, then comes baby, then comes marriage. But that's a big maybe.
Delano Squires So an entire generation has A completely different perspective on how families should be formed. And we see that born out in data nationally, 70% of black children are born to unmarried parents. 45% live with a single mom. But if you look at some cities, As I said, D.C. is 77%. Non marital birth rate in NewSong York is 75% in Baltimore is 83%. M in some states. In Georgia, I believe the non marital black non marital birth rate is 71%. in South Carolina I think it's 77%. In Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi it's 82%.
Delano Squires So 82% of black children in Mississippi are born to unmarried parents. The idea that that particular family structure would have no downstream social, economic, behavioral, emotional effects, is ridiculous. But for whatever reason, it's hard to get attention paid to it. And here's the challenge. The challenge is that the more conservatives, particularly white conservatives, I'm just going to talk realpolitik here. The more white conservatives, more attention they pay to the issue, the more black progressives say, oh no, that's just racist tropes and white supremacy. You just want to mimic the European family structure. So the more conservatives push into it, the more progressives pull away from it. And that is a microcosm of a much larger issue, in terms of the different political ideologies as it relates to the family. And this is why you can't find, think tanks, policy think tanks on the center left that have family policy papers because they pull back from this issue completely. Because that allows them to say that this is just a conservative talking point or trope or hobby horse. And this is not something that we on the left need to pay attention to.
Abraham Hamilton III I m mean it seems patently obvious that that type of withdrawal leaves or should I say creates the environment that feeds immediately into. And this is why we need bigger and bigger government, more and more government intervention, more and more. Hey, by the way, we just need more of your tax dollars to do all of these other things. I mean it seems like the hand in glove kind of phenomenon. Of course we're going to ignore family formation because if we look at the data that says children who are reared in an environment with a married father and mother, well that affects their outcomes. The data shows that more than likely they won't live in poverty. And if they don't live in poverty, guess what that means? And more than likely they won't need the government to help them do these other things. So it seems like that connecticity aids Them in their, they would view it as their policy objectives. But I would argue that there's a demonic rock thrower behind that that says, oh no, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, keep it on, on the policy standard. Yeah, that's what it is. We have divergent policy considerations. This is not about the thriving and the maximal flourishing God's image bearers. This is only a policy and a rhetorical debate.
Delano Squires So, so one of the things that I, that I cover in a vanishing black family is this specific phenomenon. And I talk about how the rise of the welfare state in the 1960s displaced men from their rightful role as providers in their home. So this is, you know, Lyndon Johnson, Great Society, War on Poverty. And you have a massive rapid expansion, massive rapid expansion of welfare starting in the 1960s up until welfare, reform in 1996. But, so I actually described this as an iron triangle where you have elected officials, who supported big government because they understood that if you promise low income unmarried moms money, then those people are going to turn around and vote for you. So the elected official gets votes, the unelected bureaucrat gets to manage the poverty economy just as you said it, right? So the more poor people there are, the more caseworkers, the more administrators, the more statisticians, the more policy advisors, the more outreach specialists. And then you have the low income single moms who get financial provision, however meager it may be, get financial provision from the government. So you have unelected bureaucrats, elected officials and low income moms. So who's on the outside of that is the dad who's useful for his seed, right, for procreation. But then he gets tossed to the side when it comes to him playing the role of husband and father. And I'm not saying this is all passive because one of the things that I talk about is the interaction between welfare and feminism, both hitting in the 1960s. So I talked about how welfare displaced men from their rightful role in their homes. And I also talk about how second wave and on feminism deceived women into believing that femininity is weak, masculinity is toxic in men, but empowering in women, that marriage is oppressive, the home is a prison and children are a burden. So you have two ideologies rising at exactly the same time that that disrupted the God given roles for men and women in their homes.
Abraham Hamilton III Let me break in right there. Delano. We'll pick up right there on the other side of this break. You're listening to the Hamilton Corner Delano Squires book, the Vanishing Black Family.
When you hear this, this is American Family News. You know what follows is the truth your name news from a Christian perspective.
Delano Squires Hundreds of teachers are going to have to walk into that school building and they are forced to swallow political ideology that in many cases violates their very faith and conscience.
If you miss it at the top of the hour, American Family News podcasts are available at afn.net and sign up for our daily news brief at afn.net Tune in Saturdays at 1:30 Central for the Compass with host Rick Beggs and and I, Voter Guide president Debbie Withnow. Each weekend the Compass will seek to navigate the public square with faith, truth and conviction. Rick and Debbie will keep tabs on upcoming elections and remind us of the importance of our participation in them. The Compass reminds us that God is our true north. Be listening for the Compass Saturday afternoons at 1:30 Central on American Family Radio.
Joseph Parker The fall of G3 Ministries. This is David Wheaton, host of the Christian Worldview. G3 was once a prominent and influential ministry, but then last year the president of G3 resigned after being exposed for using anonymous social media accounts to criticize fellow believers. And then recently, four G3 leaders made anonymous accusations of plagiarism against Pastor Thom Buck, a former board member. Buck's church elders found the allegations worthy of correction, but now disqualification. But the revealing of G3's scheme led to a confession and the organization dissolving. The big lesson is to follow God's word. If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private. Hear our most recent program on this [email protected] and then join us this weekend as we discuss the rise of socialism.
Listen to the Christian Worldview with David Wheaton Saturday mornings at 8 Central on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III The Hamilton Corner podcast and one minute commentaries are available at afr.net back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
Abraham Hamilton III Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner, Abraham Hamilton iii. Here my guest is Delano Squires, author of the newly released book the Vanishing Black How Welfare and Feminism Made Marriage Optional and Children Vulnerable. And before we went to the break, Delano, you were explaining how the synergistic effect of both the welfare, state and feminism converge to accomplish exactly what you put in your subscript, making marriage optional and children vulnerable. Would you continue your explanation on that point, please?
Delano Squires Yeah. So again, you have these two major cultural shocks hitting at the same time. The 1960s, both disrupting how men and women saw themselves one another and the roles that they play in the family and the effect that it had is that it took a family culture that was at the margins. Right? Because even in 1965, 100 years after slavery, the non marital birth rate in the black community was only 23.6%. Just call it a quarter, just for the sake of argument. So that means three out of four black children were still born to married parents in 1960. 65. But one generation after these two cultural shocks, by the time you get to 1985, it was already 60% of black children were being born out of wedlock. So you had these two forces that move that family culture from the margins to the mainstream. And what I argue in the Vanishing black family is that after that, this is a biblical principle, so I know your readers would appreciate this, that everything reproduces after its own kind. So even if the initial forces pull back for whatever reason, that that culture itself would begin to reproduce. Because now you're going to have, kids who grow up in neighborhoods where their parents aren't married, their grandparents weren't married, none of their friends, parents are married, and no one in their community requires marriage before having children. So now you have kids growing up in a community where it is normal for young people at a certain age, 20, 25, 26, to just get into relationships, some more serious than others, but some very, very much casual, and begin having children outside of the bonds of marriage. So that's one of the things that I talk about. And so I call that, that was the pathogen that attacked the family. But then I go on to talk about the failure of black leaders to adequately address these issues. And now you see that pathogen begin to spread. And then I dedicate an entire chapter to the failure of the black church in particular and draw attention to the fact that the most politically active progressive black preachers think, your Otis Moss III's and your Freddy Haynes and your Jamal Bryants, these are people who actually will be an obstacle to black family reconstruction and not an asset. And the reason why is because their embrace of liberation theology, right from, from, you know, Dr. James cone, makes them see the, the biblical ordering for family dynamics and relationships, one man, one woman for one lifetime, as oppressive. Either to women who say, I have no interest in a husband, or this is more frequently to lgbt, community. To the LGBT community that says, no, the biblical definition of family is far too restrictive. Ah. As it relates to how we live in, in 2026. And then on top of that, particularly in Jamal Bryant, I write about him. A lot of these guys are either silent on the issue of abortion, or in Jamal Bryant's case, the Sunday after Roe vs Ray was struck down. He lamented that, you know, that Dobbs struck down that, that poorly, decided decision, from 1973. And he said, you know, when, when women's backs are up against the wall, they're gonna fight like, like nobody's business. And then 15 minutes later, Abe, he did a baby dedication at a church called Newburgh.
Abraham Hamilton III I know it.
Delano Squires Right.
Abraham Hamilton III So I knew it.
Delano Squires So, so these guys are not assets when it comes to family reconstruction. And that's because they've taken, they, they've accepted the devil's bargain. So they have distorted biblical fidelity, right? They've, they have distorted the biblical text in order for the, to gain the appearance of social justice and political power. So it's not even that they really get it, but it's the idea that, oh, if I just shave off a little, what about what the Bible says about family and marriage? Then I will be given a seat of prominence and position both in my culture, but more importantly among the political party that my people tend to vote for. and I think that's a terrible way to, to, to handle God's word. And why that subset of preachers needs to be moved out of the way for family reconstruction to take place.
Abraham Hamilton III That's, that's flat out sinful, you know, that's hireling territory, you know, And I don't mean that as an invective or pejorative. I mean that in the biblical sense. And you know, I'm not going to get into a whole long deal. But the prevalence of false teachers, as the apostle Paul diagnosed it, yes, he was rebuking the false teachers, but he also talked about that the reason why false teachers had platforms because the people had itching ears and they accumulated to themselves people to tell them what they wanted to hear. So you have people who are unwilling to repent personally. So if they can get somebody who has an external veneer of clergymen to satiate their own desire to be affirmed, then hence the larger platforms. But I don't want to be derailed there because even the way you answered that or shared that portion of what you shared here today leads us to where I really want to spend a significant amount of time and I encourage everybody listening to go out and get a copy of Brother Squires book, for your own edification. There are lots of, there's lots of data. It is extremely well researched. there will be historical information, sociological information that you may not be readily aware of. And you may want to get it as a gift or a tool of communicating to friends, family, and loved ones, because Brother Delano has done the heavy lifting for you, you know, and so it's something that's worthwhile for you to share. But what I really want to drive toward is that how do we get out of this? I often say the mire that we find ourselves in. we've ended up here. The way the proverb says, as sin grows, as a man travels one foot after the other, and the only way out is by repentance. And that's not a quick fix. That's not I dream of genie, blink your eyes and then you're out of it. But we can, if we will. How do we turn away from the trajectory that we have been on and to turn toward what you describe as both family reconstruction and family revival?
Delano Squires Yeah, absolutely. And I end that chapter on the failures of the black church by saying the beauty of God and his character is he gives us time to repent and turn from our wicked ways. So, I then pivot to the second half of the book, which is all solutions. And one of the things that I say is one of the first things we have to do is to reframe the issue of family reconstruction away from the desires of adults and towards the needs and rights of children. M. So when I talk about, when I use rights language, I'm arguing that children have a right to the affection, protection, connection, correction, and direction of the one man and the one woman that created him or her, and that that right is best exercised in a loving, low conflict household with a married mom and dad, point blank, period. So that. So that's the issue. Not what did the adults want, not can. How do they make the family of their dreams, Even if it's, you know, two guys or two women, you know, I want this. I desire this. So. So the government should do everything that. That it. That I. That I demand in order to give me the family of my dreams. No, the issue is about what is best for children, the rights that they have. So. So once you get the framing right, I start by saying, by far the most important institution in a reconstruction movement is the church. And. And I praise God for churches that are, and pastors that have faithfully teach the Bible, faithfully teach God's design when it comes to the family. I was in. I was in South Carolina a couple weeks ago at a conference with Christian families Against Destructive Decision cfad. and. And they have what they call the Eden reset, where they're helping couples, you know, get back to God's design for the family. Not, only that they purchased 127 acre parcel of land in, close to where the church is at as a family restoration center. So there are churches doing the Lord's work as it relates to this particular issue. But I think other institutions can play a role. So I write in a book about the role HBCUs can play. whether that's holding conferences. I've drafted a proposal for hbcu, Marriage and Family Consortium that would do original research on attitudes and views around relationships, marriage, family, children. I would love to see HBCUs do surveys both to students, asking them questions such as, okay, would you be open to meeting a spouse over the next four years while you're on campus? And then also to alumni, particularly for alumni who have kids. would you be open to your child meeting a spouse? Or what age do you think is most appropriate for your child to think about marriage and starting a family? So it's the church house, it's the schoolhouse.
Abraham Hamilton III Let me ask you one quick question on that. How has the response been to that, to the proposal to HBCUs? Have they been, have they been receptive? Have they been hostile? Have they been lukewarm?
Delano Squires Have not, not hostile. Nobody is bitten yet in terms of saying, yes, I want to take this proposal and make this happen. but, but I've heard, you know, the people I've shared it with have been open to the idea. So I'm actually trying to do some more work and establish some more relationship. Yeah, I'd love to connect with the president Tuskegee, because clearly he's setting some standards and, you know, putting his foot down on certain things.
Abraham Hamilton III A bonnet free zone over there, you know what I'm saying?
Delano Squires Right, right, right, right, right.
Abraham Hamilton III Yeah. But continue. I'm sorry, I didn't want to interrupt your momentum. I just, I was intrigued by that idea.
Delano Squires Yeah, so, so it's HBCUs, but also on a K through 12 level. It's, it's introducing the success sequence to, to middle school, high school students long before they make the decision to start a family. That can be done in, during class time, that can be done in, out of school time, that can be done through public awareness campaigns. And I know several states have already begun to do that. so, yes, church house, schoolhouse, the state house plays a role. Right. The government obviously has played, done much mischief when it comes to family formation, but I do think there's A limited role that the government can play. again, on a basic level, that could be using the bully pulpit for public officials to constantly affirm the importance of the family as the most important institution. More important than their office is the family. But that can also be, you know, using existing federal grants. One of the ideas I have in the book is around a marriage boot camp for cohabiting couples who share at least one biological child. And the success in that boot camp would not be, well, we have better feelings now at the end of the program than the beginning. Success would mean we're going through this six month or one year, however long program and at the end we are walking down the aisle at a communal wedding. Invite, you know, friends, family, you know, grandma, granddad, cousins, auntie and all them. They're going to come out to wherever it's being held and celebrate with us as we move M From, you know, cohabitation to holy matrimony. One of the ideas that I had in the book is that if you could find a private funder, let's say a family foundation, it would be an interesting idea to say, to offer those couples some financial incentive, whether it's 5007, $510,000 structured as a, as a grant or as a loan that will be fully forgiven after 10 years. But it would show the importance of getting married, particularly to people who come from communities and cultures, family cultures, where they have not seen a marriage in the last three generations. M. So I think there's an appropriate role for the state House. And then of the four houses that I mentioned, last one is the Art house. And this is where I dedicated an entire chapter to the importance of art, media and culture. I talk film. I start with Birth of the Nation. I talk about Oscar Myshel, and his independent film company to counter that sort of racist propaganda. And then I get to modern day, right? I talk about the impact that, that gangster, rap and hip hop has had since the late 90s. And one of the things that I say, the thesis of that chapter A is that you cannot sow Snoop Dogg and reap the Cosby family, right? You, you can't continuously push messages into your community and culture that degrade women and devalue them as wives, as mothers, that disrespect them and think that that won't have an impact on how young men see young women in their community. So is really a call for, better, you know, better images and perspectives on marriage and family using the most popular and important and consequential tools that are in the culture now for people of a certain age. They'll think music, TV and film, but particularly for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, that that may mean. And I say this tongue in cheek, that may mean a ban on all relationship podcasts. Because every day that I open up social media, I see somebody cut on a mic and say, oh, I think all women need a whole face. So I don't mean to, you know, use strong language, but these are the things that, that or I, I'm, I'm. I'm polyamorous. Right. So I can't. One woman is not enough to satisfy me. So, so part of it is presenting more positive and realistic images of what marriage looks like, the beauty of marriage to a new generation who's never seen it.
Abraham Hamilton III And I. So that's, I'd say biblical. Biblical. but go ahead. I'm sorry, I don't want to cut you off.
Delano Squires No, so, so, so, so that's what it's about. And obviously I'm a Christian writing a book about the family, so I make, you know, numerous references to the biblical design, biblical order. But I also acknowledge that marriage is a common, common grace. Designed by God, right, to be enjoyed by his people, but also beneficial to people who don't even believe in God. And I liken this to someone who lives in a home that was designed by an architect that they neither know nor acknowledge. Now, you can benefit from it. You can make family memories. But if we want to get down to the hard work of, rebuilding after there's been catastrophic damage done to that structure, you need a blueprint and you need to know who the architect is. And this is why to me it's important to always. Even though it's a book on the black family, reconstruction has to be done from a biblical perspective. Because race alone, is not going to be enough to reconstruct. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
0:00 - 15:00. Acts 23:10-22. May God give us eyes and hearts discern.
15:00 - 31:00. Delano Squires returns to “The Corner” to discuss The Vanishing Black Family.
31:00 - 48:00. Welfare and feminism have made marriage optional and children vulnerable. How did this happen?
Live
Did you know American Family Radio is listener-supported? Your monthly financial support will allow us to continue upholding Godly values through our numerous channels, like American Family Radio, One Million Moms, The Stand magazine, and many more.
Become a Great Commission Partner TODAY to help AFR transform culture by rebuilding the family. When you donate today, you’ll get access to:
