New Stats
The Below are not my opinions just something I got from an e-group:
OK. Every 8 months or so, this topic comes up via an email and there is a firestorm of comments, commentaries and feelings. And, I usually participate because I like vigorous dialogue that makes us think. This time however, I thought to dig a little deeper to find out what’s really going on. Please review the below facts about interracial marriages and black families:
Of the black / white interracial combinations, over 70% are Black man / white woman combinations*.
Out of all interracial married couples in the US, 16% are comprised of a Black man to a white woman*. This represents 4/10 % of all married couples nationally*.
As of March 2002, about 70% of all black women and about 60% of all black men were categorized as not married**.
Over 40% of all blacks have never been married. This translates into only 35%** of the 57,919,000* in the United States being black married families**.
Only 10% of blacks in America have been divorced***.
Now, if you are comfortable with these figures, then you can stop reading now. If you are not, please consider the following questions:
Should we be concerned with the number of couples who are interracially married?
Is the fact that the majority of the black / white combinations are black man / white woman be a point of further research, discussion, and study?
Should we concern ourselves with the fact that the vast majority of blacks are not married?
Is the barely 10% difference that exist between the black men who are married (39.8%**) vs. the black women who are married (31.1%**) enough justification to further pontificate the reasons this margin exist?
Should we concentrate our efforts on the fact that 35% of all blacks have never been married?
Are we to be more concerned with the percentage of black men who chose to marry white woman, or the 60% of all black men who are not married? Or the 70% of black woman who are not married%?
OK, after you answer these questions, please consider these:
· What are you doing in your (our) community to correct this trend?
· Have you in some way contributed to any of these trends, or are you still engaging in activities that contribute to this trend (directly or indirectly)?
· Are there enough resources aimed at combating the number of blacks who are not married?
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· What are you doing to reverse this trend personally?
o If you are not married, what are you doing to prepare yourself for marriage (if you indeed plan to be married one day)?
o If you are married, are you working hard to make sure your marriage is healthy, and are you encouraging others to be married?
These are all rhetorical questions; however they should be used as a springboard for discussion. I encourage each of you (us) to really do some serious soul searching and not only look at we are doing right now, but also where we put our energy. Of course, I do have my own commentary on the questions I have posed, but I encourage you to develop your own. And I hope these facts generate more questions. The bottom line is that I see all of the talk about black / white couples is to generate dialogue between us (black men / women). Often times we get caught up in the emotions of the subject and don't talk about anything that will change anything. Might our energies, efforts and intelligence be used to think and act on issues of greater importance? Remember, there is only 24 hours in a day, and we can only do but so much. Of course, comments are always welcome.
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