Radical Feminist Rutgers Professor Brittany Cooper Claims We Don’t Need Black Nuclear Family to Thrive, Black America Responds. Photo Credit: jacoblund / istock
Radical feminist Brittany Cooper recently responded to being called out on her stance that the Black nuclear family isn’t necessary for Black children to thrive by doubling down on her comments.
While Cooper said she is “pro-family” and “pro-family planning,” she was clear in her opinion that it isn’t necessary for a family to include a mother and father to raise successful children.
“We don’t need traditional nuclear families for Black thriving,” Cooper said in a Twitter thread. “As one raised by my mother, grandmother and aunts I can attest. We should support families however they are configured to provide basic needs in loving and safe environments. That’s what being pro-Black family means.”
The Rutgers professor made the comments in response to Civitas Group CEO Delano Squires after he posted a tweet that included a video of Cooper speaking about the importance of “healthy Black families.” Squires asked when Cooper had changed her position on the matter.
“Since when is @ProfessorCrunk pro-family? She’s said we should “celebrate” the decline of the nuclear fam. & has dismissed the importance of black dads. 50% of blk babies in NYC are aborted (~40% nationally),” Squires tweeted. “Why do so many blk libs have a problem w/more blk children being born?”
Cooper replied she had not as she has always advocated for Black families. She said she just wasn’t convinced the Black nuclear family had to denote the makeup of one.
“I’m pro-family and pro-family planning. I have also been sure to apprise folks of the CDC research that says that Black fathers actually spend more time with their kids than any other race of fathers,” Cooper wrote. “So stop your foolishness.”
In addition to offering her own experience as anecdotal evidence that she was right, she told Squires he sounded like racist white supremacists.
“When childbearing folks have access to good healthcare, good jobs, affordable housing and safe neighborhoods, they may choose to have more children,” Cooper wrote. “Stop pathologizing Black women for making choices that are right for them. Because then you sound no diff from white supremacists.”
Many on Black Twitter heavily disagreed with Cooper, stating how important the impact of a father is to the development of a child.
“I’m sorry but I don’t agree.. masculine energy raising children is extremely important,” @kfultz82 wrote.
“I too was raised by a single mother, she’s my hero, passed 4 years ago, miss her dearly. I think your argument is stupid, I would’ve loved to have a father in my life, to show me things & to love me,” @GenX_audiophile responded. “My mom did the best she could, but an intact family would’ve changed my life.”
“If this is what professors are teaching your daughters at university send them to trade school,” @Gentlemen_Alive tweeted.
Another user, @we_thesilent1, chimed in writing, “u contradicted urself in all ur statements. serious question since when did the CDC check on blk dads and see if they spend quality time with there kids? Since when did govt. PERIOD check on any family to see how families interact, and if they did where is the study?”
“Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t negate the fact that children from intact nuclear families do much better on all fronts,” @GovernorWinslow wrote.
“Exactly this! Having two, supportive parents is the real privilege in this country regardless of race and data proves it,” @theChapLen agreed.
Cooper isn’t the only activist to come under fire for having what some deem anti-Black nuclear family stances.
In Sept. 2020. Black Lives Matter removed a page and language from its website that some, including former NFL lineman Marcellus Wiley, deemed problematic.
“We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and ‘villages’ that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable,” the website formerly read, according to the New York Post.
