Black Women and Marriage–A Dream Deferred?

Statistics show this, studies show that–blah, blah, blah; we know what it is, we live it everyday. So, why is the great “black women and marriage” debate still a topic for discussion? I guess, because we still aren’t getting married. Personally, I don’t subscribe to the ideology that there are no good black men left–as I glance over my left shoulder to the beautiful black man sitting beside me, I beg to differ; however, dare I say it, national statistics have shown that with higher incarceration rates and fewer black men enrolled in college, compared to black women, the pickings are pretty slim.

With that said, when I read some of these statistics, they are pretty alarming; for instance, within the last two generations, marriage rates for African-Americans have dropped significantly. Between 1970 and 2001, the African-American marriage rate dropped by 34 percent, compared to 17 percent in the general population. African-American women are also the least likely group to get married in the United States. Well damn!! And if we wed an African-American man, we have the highest divorce rate in the United States. Somebody stop the bus so we can talk about this!

Now, I’ve shared many o’ glasses of Reisling with my girls discussing this topic, and I must say we never seem to get to what the issue is. Are we as black women closing ourselves off to the possibilities of finding love outside of our race? Clutch recently did an article on interracial dating that got some mixed reviews and started some pretty heated debates–but for me the answer wasn’t clear. Are black women getting a bad rap? Are we not what’s hot on the street anymore? Let’s talk about it–because I want to know!

BY  Lovergirl