Hoodwinked and Bamboozled: New Research SHATTERS Myths About The Availability Of “GOOD” BLACK MEN!!!
By Team BLAM
Finally, there’s a statistical analysis of relationship dynamics in the black community that offers a ray of hope instead of the persistent “gloom and doom” prophesy about black marriage that we’ve all become too familiar with. In light of a recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggesting an unconventional approach to marriage woes for black women, a good friend of ours, DeShuna Spencer of Empower Magazine, published an article earlier this week by Dr. Ivory A. Toldson and Dr. Bryant Marks that challenges the media propaganda about black marriage and asserts that there are AVAILABLE and ELIGIBLE black men.
Below you’ll find some of the statistical data presented by Dr. Toldson and Dr. Marks in their Empower Magazine piece. Trust and believe you’ll be surprised by what was found.
WHY ALL THE FOCUS ON SINGLE BLACK WOMEN
For example, we examine ABC News, Nightline feature article, “Single, Black, Female — and Plenty of Company.” Taking this statement literally, we should understand that single white women have more “company” than single black women. In the US, 6.2 million black women have never been married, compared to 16.6 million white women. Therefore, a single white female has 10 million more counterparts with whomto enjoy single life than black women.
WHERE ARE THE “GOOD” AND “SUCCESSFUL” BLACK MEN?
Nationwide, although more than 800,000 more black women than black men have at least a bachelor’s degree, almost 200,000 more black men than black women earn more than $75,000 per year. In America,725,922 black men earn more than $75,000 compared to 528,204 black women; 100,000 more black men earn more than $100,000 than black women; and black men are twice as likely to earn more than a quarter million dollars. Therefore, if we define success in terms of education, there will never be enough black men for black women, but if we define success in terms of income, there is still some hope for black love.
Education increases the chances that a black male will earn a higher income but does not completely determine income. Several occupations that do not require a college degree are overrepresented among six figure black men. The top five occupations for black men who make six figures without a college degree are: (1) managers, (2) truck drivers, (3) police officers, (4) construction workers, and (5) bailiffs, correctional officers, and jailers. Interestingly, rounding out the top 10 are janitors and building cleaners; a profession that accounts for 1,431 black men who make six figures.
A LOT OF BLACK MEN WHO MIGHT BE MARRIAGE MATERIAL ARE GAY
From our data, we can estimate that578,533 (4.8 percent) black men and 2.5 million (3.4 percent) white men are in cohabitating relationships with other men. When comparing only white and black men who have college degrees the percent who are cohabitating with men is 2.6 percent for both races. We understand that only a small percentage of the total homosexual population cohabitate, however this is evidence against the theory that homosexuality is overrepresented among college educated black men.
SUCCESSFUL BLACK MEN ONLY WANT WHITE WOMEN
Eighty-eight percent of all black men who are married are married to black women. When we use the census to compare household economic status between black and interracial couples, we find that 8 percent of black males who are living at or near poverty have a white wife, and 9 percent of black males who are middle class or better have a white wife. Among married black men with a personal income of more than $100,000, 12 percent have a white wife, 83 percent have a black wife, and 5 percent have a wife who is neither black nor white. Six percent of married black men who are high school dropouts have a white wife and 92 percent have black wives. Among black men with college degrees, 10 percent have a white wife and 85 percent have black wives. Among black male professional athletes, 72.8% are married to black women, 22.2% are married to white women, and 5% are married to women who are neither black nor white.
BLAM Fam what are your thoughts about this data? We at BLAM personally feel that it’s refreshing to see some news that’s encouraging when it comes to relationship dynamics in our community. YES…WE KNOW WE STILL GOT A LOT OF WORK TO DO. If nothing else, we hope that you take from this study that ..
1.THERE ARE “GOOD” BLACK MEN WHO ARE AVAILABLE.
2. ALL BLACK MEN AREN’T LOSERS.
3. MEDIA PROPAGANDA IS REAL AND SERVES IT’S OWN AGENDA
4. THERE’S HOPE FOR BLACK LOVE AND BLACK MARRIAGE.
To read the entire article visit Empower Magazine.
P.S. Great Piece DeShuna
If you allow yourself to be defined by a statistic, you will become one. I understand the point of this post and I am glad that there are folks out there defending the idea of Black love & Black marriage. More importantly, if you are having authentic male/female relationships with your fellow man & woman, the likelihood of great relationships are increased vs. the sentiments that so many echo about the Black relationship.
My recent post Happy New Year 2012 | 2011 in review
An update to my previous comment…Here r some links:
1. "Statistics of incarcerated African-American males" -from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics_of_incarc…
2. "Men who have sex with men" -from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_who_have_sex_wit…
3.) Interesting vid/discussion by professor R. Richard Banks about his new book, "Is Marriage for White People?" http://youtu.be/1GFZTPKrs5Q
I think we should really start to take heed and come up with ways of vigorously improving our community…
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My recent post Living Your Life
I actually know a successful hairstylist in a wealthy neighborhood who married a man who she had never met who was in prison…She bought herself a princess-cut diamond engagement ring. This makes me think about the # of women who are actually married to men who are currently incarcerated…hmm…statistics go any way you can bend them!
A lot of this info we already knew, it is just presented in a more positive light. But it's still the same data. It's just the spin u put on it… Still, it is a fact that Black men are more likely to marry outside of their race than any other race. I learned that in college almost 10yrs ago! They were citing the # as 10%, while from reading this article, it would seem that the number is actually about 15% now. Also in college, we were taught that men marry down…so a man is more likely to marry a woman with less education, less income.
As far as the statistics about homosexuality, they're only counting men who identify as homosexual (who are actually on the books as living with other men). This doesn't account for the Men-Seeking-Men (MSM) population identified by the Centers for Disease Control, who don't identify as gay or bi-sexual however admit to having casual sexual encounters with men. This population is estimated to be at 30%.
This article also doesn't address the percentage of black males in prison, which some have estimated to be at about 20%.
I think that is why even textbooks hv been saying that the pickings are slim for professional black women. The media is just choosing to address it now for some reason…and they're doing it in an ugly way too! Chk out this vid: http://youtu.be/Uno4hgL8kgY
There is also another recent article which states that the decline in Black Marriage is due to lack of wealth, not dysfunction. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/20/marriage…
My recent post Is The Devil Hijacking Black Youth Culture? Part II
Hmph…I maintained hope in spite of the statistics. And although my first attempt ended in failure, I still maintain hope–even moreso now that the stats have been proven false. Thanks for the info!
Some of the arguments presented here don’t make sense, but I do know that the American mainstream media has been actively promoting the idea of Black men hooking up with White or lighter women in movies like “Takers” and in most hip-hop music videos I see these days, so criticisms of Black men, specifically aimed at Black women, in terms of there relationship eligibility may be part of this same conspiracy.
Tell me something that I didn't know? It's just that too many women are looking for the same type of Black man. I'd like to suggest a movie to everyone, if you haven't seen it yet. It's called "Dairy of a Tired Black Man." It tell's the real story.
Did black women really believe the statistics about the "lack of" available black men?? Like really??? Who believes statistic taken by a white analysis who surveyed all of who knows how many US states if not all or just a coast and came up with a number most favorable for his discussion..???
I've never brought the lie….there are enough black, African, Caribbean and all other African decent men WORLDWIDE for every black woman who is believing God for on….
Blue collar black men raised white collar black women…
Great stats to dispel these untruths. many of us cave in to the power of suggestion: the more lies we here, the more we believe them to be true
I. MIGHT. JUST. FRAME.THIS.
Thanks so much for posting this. As the wife of a black man and mom of a little black man, I am really disturbed by all of the negativity surrounding black men. I am even more perturbed by the media's obsession with black women's supposedly meager dating prospects. Black women are beautiful and brilliant and have amazing love prospects from all races and backgrounds. Loveessence.com demonstrates that.
Thanks for sharing this. I posted this on my Making Love Better TwoGether page.
We are being propagandized for profit … and it doesn't work to our benefit … Great info!
Finally, some real numbers. Sick of the hearsay! Thanks! 🙂