Black and single: Is marriage really for white people?

by renovatio | July 23, 2008 at 06:24 pm | 27 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

45% percent of black women have never been married, that is really significant number, almost a half. Do you think marriage for black women related with "KARMA"... Well, i don't think so. What do you think about that?

Mrs. Allen had it all. A career she enjoyed, a nice home, two adorable children and a husband. She shared her tools for success with me at an early age. She went to college, got married and waited until she was 26 to have her first child.

The perfect life. The perfect plan. It was one I decided to model.

My aspirations for both a career and family were set at the age of 12. I knew I could accomplish what Mrs. Allen, my fifth- and seventh-grade teacher, had. But as I approach 30 and measure the goals I had at 12 against the reality of life, the only thing I can check off that list is a college education.

I am a statistic.

And there are millions more like me. Forty-five percent of black women in America have never been married, compared with 23 percent of white women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey in 2006. Articles like the one published in the Washington Post two years ago could lead me to believe that it's because "Marriage is for White People."