‘One in 22 Black men’: MAGA podcaster links crime to fatherlessness; Benny Johnson says it’s killing Americans

Conservative commentator Benny Johnson has claimed that one in 22 Black men in the US will commit murder, linking it to fatherlessness.Speaking on War Room, the MAGA podcaster said that Black men, who make up about 6% of the US population, were responsible for roughly half of all murders.Johnson also said that 70% of Black children were born without fathers and that 70% of juveniles in state facilities come from single-parent homes, calling fatherlessness a crisis affecting the community. In a follow-up post on X, Johnson wrote that fatherless children were more likely to live in poverty, less likely to graduate from college, and twice as likely to end up in prison. He also pointed to historical welfare policies, claiming the rate of fatherlessness among Black children increased sharply after the 1960s."Fatherlessness is killing America. This crisis is real, it’s growing, and we can’t afford to keep ignoring it. I don't care if you find this offensive. It's true. What's offensive is having your innocent child stabbed to death on a bus in Charlotte," Johnson said.The backlash follows the incident in Charlotte, North Carolina, where 34-year-old homeless man Decarlos Brown Jr stabbed Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska to death on a train on August 22. Footage showed Brown sitting behind Zarutska, getting up to stab her, and then leaving the train. Brown, described as a career criminal, has at least 14 previous arrests and convictions, including robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, and larceny. He has been charged with first-degree murder in Zarutska’s death.