"Before pregnancy, these young women's lives were often spinning out of control, dogged by school failure, struggles with parents and peers, the lure of drugs and alcohol and the omnipresent dangers of their neighborhood streets.
"Into this void comes a baby, bringing a profound sense of meaning and identity."
I wanted to run this theory past someone who has worked extensively with black single mothers.
June Perry, executive director of New Concept Self Development in Milwaukee, a non-profit social service agency that has a variety of programs for low-income families in the African-American community, saw some credibility in the book's views.
"I think most people support marriage if it makes your life better and improves the life of the child," Perry said. "But for many black women, that reality is limited."
Many black women don't have a large pool of candidates for marriage due to social realities, Perry said.
"There's the lack of employment and lack of education among black men, and there's also the incarceration rate," Perry said. "Marriage is great if you have someone who can join your life as a partner, but if he's unemployed or incarcerated, he's probably not going to be there."
Perry said many women want children but resist marriage due to the circumstances of the men in their lives.
According to this specialist black women see black men as unemployable losers or worse, criminals who will not "make thier life better and improve the life of the child."
I was a little struck by the tone of the column, given that if Bill Bennet had made these comments Jesse Jackson would have been calling for his head. But it seems that African American women don't reserve their bigotry for just black men. Nope, according to Kane black women also have some sort of aversion to white men.
Compounding the problem is the fact that black women don't marry outside their race as often as other women do.
Compounding the problem is the fact that black women don't marry outside their race as often as other women do.Kane doesn't give any facts supporting this, just claims it is so. I decided to write Mr. Kane to see if I could get some follow up (he is usually pretty good about getting back). Here is my letter:
Mr Kane,
I was struck by your most recent article. It seems that the people most inherently averse to African American men are African American women. You write, as a given, that most black women feel that most black men will not improve their lives. I was literally stunned. Do black women really peg black men as uneducated louts or criminals as the following paragraph suggests?
“"I think most people support marriage if it makes your life better and improves the life of the child," Perry said. "But for many black women, that reality is limited."
Many black women don't have a large pool of candidates for marriage due to social realities, Perry said.
"There's the lack of employment and lack of education among black men, and there's also the incarceration rate," Perry said. "Marriage is great if you have someone who can join your life as a partner, but if he's unemployed or incarcerated, he's probably not going to be there."
You have written back to back columns, one condemning Bill Bennet for inferring black people are more likely to be criminals, and the next saying most black men are unintelligent or criminals? I don’t really get it. They seem to be reflections of the same though.
To compound my confusion is your insinuation, without supporting facts, that black women are racist, or at least overly averse to men of other races. You candor is appreciated, but you don’t seem to find these things the least bit strange.
The conclusion I drew from your column is that African American women have children to fill otherwise empty lives “fill a void” and would rather be a single mom than pursue option A. an unemployable black man B. an African American criminal or C. heavens forbid, a white man. I can’t imagine this is the case, and if it is the situation is more bleak than poverty or wedlock babies. Forget changing the attitudes of racists Southerners or condescending white liberals, the attitudes that need to be changed most, from this article, is that of the African American mothers.
If these mothers are assuming black men are no good, that attitude obviously is picked up at one level or another by her children, thus resulting in an almost self perpetuating cycle of disdain for black men in the black community. The female children will share the mothers views and the male children will think of themselves as destined to be no good.
Thanks for you time and the thought provoking column
I'll let you know if I get anything.
