In America, the poor Mexican culture has a much better outlook on life than the poor African American culture does.

I'm in the minority out of my black friends in that I grew up with both my birth parents together in the same home for my entire upbringing.

I manage an apartment complex in a neighborhood with a lot of poverty and some measure of criminal / gang activity (drug dealers, occasional shootings, etc.) and I hadn't ever really stopped to consider the overall family situations of the tenants here. But you're right - I don't think I've ever had black tenants who had the traditional "nuclear family". Of all of the black tenants we've had, nearly all of them were single mothers and their children. As a result, much of the income of those families are from government assistance (rent assistance programs, EBT / food stamps, cash assistance programs, etc.). There's heavy drug use among these families, and the level of supervision they have over their children is generally very low, they oftentimes cause a lot of damage to the interior of the rental unit and the common areas of the property.

On the other hand, the latino families not only have the mother-father-children dynamic, they also have aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. all living together, under the same roof. There's never a problem with watching the kids, because while there are generally a lot of children, there are also a lot of adults present, especially elderly ones who can take the time to watch and take care of the kids. All of the adults of working age are employed, and they always abide by the landlord's rules, report problems as they occur, and take great care of their home. Our best tenants, in terms of the pride they take in their home and how they treat it, are always latino families.

It is really amazing how people in very similar economic circumstances can have such differing outcomes, just based on a few factors like that.

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