Blog # 4

I found it interesting that the author in the "What's love got to do with it?" article stated "Nationally, college women outnumber men among all racial groups." It seems like Black women are advancing so far beyond Black men due to the different initiatives set up to empower women as a whole, especially Black women. I know many more programs set up to empower women than to empower men. Although men have an upper hand in our society in most areas, the fact that more and more women are earning their power through education and successful careers, is giving women the opportunities to get to those "levels." Specifically, for Black men, on a societal level it seems like they weren't encouraged to the same degree as women were to pursue an education, especially excel in higher education. Also many Black men face the challenges put on them by society of being more likely than their White counterparts to go to jail or to be discriminated against, because they're simply a Black male. The amount of stereotypes imposed on Black males also contributes to why they're not advancing as much as their female counterparts.

According to Raspberry in the “Successful women who are childless” article, only 29 % of African American women between 28-55 years old and earning over $55,000 are married. The ratio of black men to black women college students at Harvard used to be close to even, and now it is 9 women to 1 man. When you look at Franklin's article, Franklin describes the Black family over time. It was mentioned that there has been a decrease in the number of marriages and now if you look at present day African American families, the trend has held true. Around 40% of African American families are still intact. 

The plight deepened for black men in the last 2 decades due to their disconnect from mainstream society and the high probability of them getting an education or finishing high school. According to Eckholm, there is a high rate of incarceration of Black males, although rates of urban crime have declined. The two factors cited by Holzer and colleagues for keeping black employment rates down are the high rate of incarceration and attendant flood of former offenders into neighborhoods and the stricter enforcement of child support. Fathers feel overwhelmed with debt due to this specific factor.  

The term “annihilation through initiation” is referring to the weakening of culture and economic resources of the Black community, which is caused by the “increasing numbers of interracial unions, according to Grant. This is considered a low Black marriageability index today. The implications for the marriageability index among African Americans is that in order for this concept to disappear, there must be an increase of marriages between Black males and Black females. In the McLarin and Evans articles, there is a discussion of how politics and positive media could possibly increase the marriageability index among Blacks.

Overall, in regards to the prospects of marriage among African Americans in the future, I’d like to say that it will get better and things will improve. Based on new initiatives that have been implemented like Black Marriage Day and others that aim to promote healthy relationships between African Americans, there is a possibility things will improve. Unfortunately, from what I know, it seems like people are less likely to marry these days due to many different factors, so these can also apply to the African American community, and may also be of hindrance to Blacks pursuing marriage.