For millions of people across the country, February is a time to reflect on the contributions black Americans have made to our rich national history. But for a handful of educators, the first week of this month is dedicated to amplifying year-round efforts to introduce the values of the Black Lives Matter movement into K-12 classrooms.

One of those principles is to "disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family structure." But rebuilding—not destroying—the black family should be the top priority for people who claim to care about race and equality.

What America needs today is a "Black Wives Matter" movement that reestablishes marriage as the foundation of black family life and increases the percentage of black children who are born to—and raised by—their married biological parents. At the core of this movement are three words: marriage before carriage.

"Marriage before carriage" was the norm for black Americans for most of the 20th century. U.S. Census data show that from 1890 to 1960, black men and women were more likely to be married by age 35 than their white counterparts. But by 1965, when the state of the black family concerned policymakers enough to issue the Moynihan report, one in four black children were born to unmarried parents. Today, the non-marital birth rate for black women is 70 percent, and 44 percent of black children live with a single mother.