As a part-time DC resident and a young black man who lives in America, I am not here to play nice. The time before has long been over.
Washington, DC, gets out of hand and it is not just because of bad mayors, weak public prosecutors or policy awake. It is because too many fathers in the black community have run away from their responsibilities, and too many people are in power too cowardly to say it out loud.
If you want to know why the capital of our nation has become one of the most dangerous cities in America, start in the house. The reality is simple: when boys grow up without fathers, the streets bring them up. And the streets do a terrible work predictably.
FBI and border patrol officers arrest a man along the U Street -Gang during a federal deployment of the law enforcement on 10 August 2025 in Washington, DC President Donald Trump ordered an increased presence of federal law enforcement in the capital of the nation. (Andrew Leyden/Getty images)
This is not a suspicion. It’s fact. According to the American experiment, a child without a father is five times more likely to commit crime and be poor, nine times more likely to leave school and 20 times more likely to finish in prison.
DC Democrats risk losing the trust of the public by avoiding the crisis of juvenile crime
Gangs have replaced families in neighborhoods in DC. Drug dealers have replaced fathers. Violence has replaced masculinity. And yet we act surprised when carjackings, shootings and murders get out of hand? Save me.
This did not happen by accident. It is the predictable outcome of a culture that would no longer appreciate family and began to apologize.
And if that insults someone left, good. Because this is not going to make them feel good.
It’s about saving lives. I have seen the costs of fatherlessness up close: young men my age I grew up with who has never learned how they can be men, make choices that lead them to a prison or an early grave. Little boys who never hear “I am proud of you” from their father, so they pursue approval of the only male figures they know: Dope guys on the street corner.
The children we have left behind: a settlement with the growing fatherlessness of America
Decades of liberal policy have made it worse. Welfare systems that punish the marriage. Schools that ignore discipline. Politicians who glorify victims about responsibility. And every time someone tries to call it, the left “racism” shouts to close the conversation. But the truth does not need their permission to be spoken.
President Donald Trump’s decision to make DC safe again is the first real act of leadership that this city has seen in years. It is not just about putting more agents on the street. The point is to send a message: Chaos has consequences. The days of having criminals rule the capital of the free world are over.
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But here is the difficult truth: if we want safer streets, we need stronger families.
That means that men perform and take responsibility for the children they bring in the world. It means telling young boys that masculinity is not about how many fights you win or how much money you are flashing. It is about protecting, bidding and leading your family. It means telling young girls that De Standaard is higher for a partner than just “he sometimes appears.”
If you are a man who made a child, be a father of that child. If you are not willing to do that, don’t cry if your son ends up in handcuffs or worse. Cruel? Maybe. WHERE? Absolute.
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Trump gives DC a chance of fighting through the streets from the gangs, the predators and the career criminals. But if we do not repair the culture that those criminals produce in the first place, we will be here in 10 years ago with another wave of fatherless boys and another stack of bodies.
Do you want DC to change? We may have to start in the living room.
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