The Fallibility in the Subtle Suggestion that Black Women Marry Outside of Their Race
Articles like this are not only hostile toward black men, but they are hostile against the black community in general. First of all, the article is not comprehensive enough to paint a lucid picture of exactly what is taking place, and how it came to be. It is simply expressing the implied notion of abridged research that is aimed at encouraging black women to marry outside of their race, while marginalizing the impact and importance of the black man’s role in the black community.
Don’t get me wrong, black men started their exodus from the black community to marry interracially a long time ago, with a specific focus on marrying white women; however, that is reflective of other issues, including self-hatred. That is an issue that must be addressed as well; however, this research and the manner in which the data is being presented is antithetical to the theme of black unity and black empowerment. From where I am sitting, there is no positive message being submitted through this article. It is loosely quoted data, with no in-depth examination of all of the elements and components involved in this dynamic.
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Anyone who has ever conducted research, or those who have been responsible for the anatomization and critiquing of research, understand that there are many factors that must be examined when drawing conclusions, and that the results are never as clear, cut and dry as they are often presented.
While implicitly suggesting that it may be in the best interest of black women to marry outside of their race, the article does not examine the cultural implications, both short-term and long-term. While mass incarceration is mentioned almost in passing, the article does not examine its impact, nor does it examine the external forces behind the mass incarceration of black men. Neither does it examine the pernicious assault against young black boys in the education system, which serves to prepare them for the school to prison pipeline.
Additionally, when making assertions concerning the economic struggles associated with refusing to marry outside of the black race, the article does not examine the lack of practicing black group economics as a variable in creating economic impotence for black women.
I could go on unveiling the multitudinous ways that this article serves to interpolate a cancerous message of division into a community that is already divided; however, I believe that I have at least laid the foundation for a significant amount of additional research and examinations of the existing data.
I am not necessarily against interracial marriage, in those rare occasions in which a person meets someone who genuinely has their best interests at heart, after all, life is about self-preservation, and it begins at the most microscopic levels. Personally, I believe that those who consider themselves to be leaders in the black community don’t have the luxury to look outside of the race for a mate, because it robs them of credibility and the capacity to lead.
I personally refrain from interpersonal interaction with white women, reducing the possibility of developing any type of personal relationship. This reduces the possibility of ever finding myself being involved romantically with a white woman. Honestly, I have made it a practice to reserve the benefit of the doubt when it comes to whites, meaning that they have to prove their allegiance to me before they have my trust.
With that being said, while I see interracial marriage as something that is other than a benign occurrence in the black community, I am not 100 percent against it, because I have personally observed interracial relationships that were solid and filled with love, and with so many issues within the black community, I believe it is unfair to ask black men and women to relegate themselves to a life of singleness if they cannot find a black mate, and this is an especially enigmatic issue for our women. I am, however, concerned about the implications that are inextricably bound to black women marrying outside of their race solely for economic reasons.
Lastly, I must acknowledge that, at least to this point, black women have been significantly more loyal to the idea of marrying “black” than black men. These are all issues that we must be willing to engage and grapple with until we develop long-term resolutions to the problems we face as a race. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.
Below you will find the article in question:
People who have college degrees tend to marry people who have college degrees. There are several reasons for this, one being that married households where both people have college degrees tend to earn more over the long and short haul.
The name for this phenomenon, according to the Brookings Institute report republished by QZ.com, is assortative mating.
If you can find a mate with similar academic credentials, it’s easier to become upwardly mobile by pooling resources. This is the plight of black women and it’s impacting their economic mobility.
There are men of other races who are suitable assortative mates, say researchers, but black women have the lowest rates of marrying outside their race than any other group. Since there aren’t enough black men with degrees to go around, black women suffer the consequences:
Just 49% of college-educated black women marry a well-educated man (i.e., with at least some post-secondary education), compared to 84% of college-educated white women, according to an analysis of PSID data by Yale sociologist Vida Maralani.
The marriage market for black women just doesn’t measure up to the pool available to white women.
First, here’s the data on race and college degrees:
Black-white gaps in marriage rates reflect different levels of education by race, but there is an important gender gap too. Young white women—aged between 25 and 35—are the most likely to have at least a BA (37%), followed by white men (29%), black women (23%) and black men (16%), according to our analysis of the ACS. We focus on the 25 to 35 year-old age cohort because these are the years during which most women, particularly college graduates, enter into their first marriage.
There is a gap between black women and black men, and the only way to fill that gap, and increase the marriage market for black women, would be to cross racial lines. Although interracial marriage rates have increased over the years, black women are still the least likely to marry outside of their race. That has economic consequences:
Marriage rates are lower among black women compared to white women, even among those with a college education. The proportion of black college graduates aged 25 to 35 who have never married is 60 percent, compared to 38 percent for white college-educated women.
By definition, the black female college graduates who do not marry are not assortatively mating, since they are not mating—defined as marrying—at all. This helps to explain why white women with college degrees are more than twice as likely as their black counterparts (29% versus 13%) to be married to someone of equal or greater educational status.
Black women who do find husbands are more likely to have husbands from a lower economic tier:
If we narrow our focus to those college graduates who do marry, the race gap remains clear: compared to whites, black college graduates are much more likely to have “married down,” in terms of education. White, married college graduates are slightly more likely (11% versus 8%) to have a better-educated husband (i.e., with post-graduate qualfications).
Is there a fix for this? Or are black women doomed to suffer the consequences that mass incarceration, among other factors, have inflicted on the black community?