I Do?

In an interesting article entitled, “Brookings panel encourages African-American marriage,” by James Wright, a journalist for The Washington Afro American Newspaper ,we learn a starling fact: between 1950 and 1996, the percentage of African-American families headed by married couples declined from 78 percent to 34 percent.

Even more alarming is the increase in the number of both African-American men and women who have never been married. Nearly 45 percent of African-American men have never married and 42 percent of African-American women have never married. Also there is an increasing number of African-American women who will never get married. The percentage of African-American women who are married declined from 62 percent to 31 percent between 1950 and 2002.

African-Americans are not only marrying at a lower rate, they are also marrying at a later age. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reports that the age of 30, 81 percent of White women and 77 percent of Hispanics and Asians will marry, but that only 52 percent of African –America women will marry by that age. African-American women are also the least likely to re-marry following divorce. Only 32 percent of African-American women will get married again within five years of divorce; that figure is 58 percent for White women and 44 percent for Hispanic women.

Although, I am reluctant to attribute the declining marriage rate to the lack of available men because I like to think that the universe is filled with every thing we need to fulfill our purposes on the earth.

The relative truth here, is that there are real concrete reasons why African-American men and African-American women are increasingly finding it difficult to come together and stay with each other. Even back in the 50’s African-American men were disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system with high rates of incarceration. We still had the psychological scars of slavery then but somehow we managed to protect and cherish the family. What is different now?

What can we do to turn the corner on these statistics? Is the heart of the problem the issue of commitment? Check out our discussions on http://relationshipsinaction.blogspot.com. I would love to hear your thoughts on these alarming statistics. How can we nurture our children to give them a better chance at successful marriage?

Also, if you are experincing issues with your marriage or relationship and might be considering counseling, please refer to http://counselinginaction.blogspot.com for further information