Alright Black America sit down and let’s have a chit chat.  I want to address a few issues between the men and the women.  This isn’t going to be your typical “why don’t you to come together” speech, this isn’t going to be that regular “we are the world” jazz, and this isn’t going to be your average “what the hell is wrong with you” assembly.  We are going to sit here, look at some numbers, I’m going to state my opinion on the matter, and then you can let me know if you agree or not and why?

We will start with education because it is a topic that we give so much attention.  In a recent report that has received much attention in Black America, Black Women were heralded as the “most educated women in America.”  Just one problem, the report was based on enrollments not on attainment.  What this means is that the title was given based on how many women were accepted into college, not how many actually earned a degree. 

According to JBHE black women account for 63% of all black enrollments and according to the census data about 10% of all enrollments, Black men accounted for 7% of enrollments and 37% of black enrollments.  As wonderful of an accomplishment getting into college is, why are we looking at enrollment stats and not at attainment stats, why are we getting so wrapped up in getting into college that we are forgetting to look at who is finishing college.  So let’s take a peek at attainment rates.

 According to the census black women have an attainment rate of 21% and black men have an attainment rate of 18%.  These numbers are lower than every other rating for every other group of people with the exception of Hispanics.  I just say this to bring up the fact that you two are in the same boat.  Black women have been enrolling in college at a higher rate than men since they started tracking black men and women separately in the 1970s (the enrollment percentages between black men and women have gone up 10% in favor of women in 40 years), but we have people running around telling us that this is a momentous occasion and citing the year that white women finally surpassed white men in enrollments as a landmark for women everywhere.  But that’s the game.

We will move on to economics, what is the pay distribution like.  We hear constantly people talking about women’s pay and how it isn’t equal to that of men’s pay but they don’t like to break out the demographics on that.  The White Woman’s liberation movement of which black women have gotten caught up in is famous for not speaking on racial issues.  So here we go, for every 1 dollar a black man makes a black woman makes 90 cents.  Yes that isn’t equal, black men, you need to take a stand for your women and ensure that she is making the same amount as you are.  But here is the problem, for every 1 dollar a black man made, white women made $1.10 cents, and we aren’t even going to get into the numbers for white men. 

 White women make more than black women in every sector and in almost every situation and the funny thing is, they make more than black men in most sectors and in a lot of situations as well.  So again, do you see how close you are, how the closest person to you in your struggle for equality is your counterpart.  You see how damaging it is when you attack each other, because everyone is doing better then you both individually and collectively.  But if that’s not enough I will give you another one.

 We often like to point the finger at black women for not being married as if something is wrong with her.  But when a man isn’t married we assume that he just isn’t ready or doesn’t want to be.  I have heard many excuses and even some white women mentioning how this is a man’s world and women are finding it harder and harder to get married. 

 So let’s look at those numbers and see what is going on.  For starters men have always had a first marriage age that is older than that of a woman.  But when we look at the numbers we see once again that black men have the oldest age (31), followed by black women (30), and then by white men (28), then white women (26).  What is also important to note is that this massive dip in black marriages in all stats didn’t start until the 1970s.  Prior to that black men and women where doing just as good and when you go back to the 50s and prior they where doing better than than everyone else in America.

 In almost every major category you look at you see black men and women right next to each either in last place or near last place.  Yet in still you two refuse to recognize that and continue to allow yourselves to be used as a pawn by others who need to use your position to leverage a better one for themselves.  You refuse to see that the rest of the world sees you as a black before anything else.  They don’t even try to hide it, first black blah blah blah, black gay, black lesbian, black couple, black business owner, black woman, black man, they are reminding you all over the place.  You are the only person standing around shouting to the heads without ears in a language that isn’t understood that you are a man and a woman.  I say all this to say, get it together and start working together, black men help your sister out, have her back, champion her issues, stop tearing her down, stop accepting things that separate you from her and let the world know that we are one.  Black women, stop identifying more with other women than you do with being black, stop accepting other peoples statistics as representative of your situation, stop tearing down your man, keep supporting his causes (wonderful job with that even through the BS we give you), keep standing up for him, but make sure you are showing the world that you are also standing beside him.

We are a movement when we’re apart that is why everyone keeps enlisting us to help them progress their agendas.  But when we get together we become a force of nature.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2013/11/07/79165/fact-sheet-the-state-of-african-american-women-in-the-united-states/

 http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/marriage/data/acs/ElliottetalPAA2012paper.pdf

 http://blackdemographics.com/education-2/education/

 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=27

 http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/51_gendergap_universities.html

 https://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/cps/2013/tables.html

 http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2013/us-college-attainment.aspx

 https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d12/tables/dt12_010.asp

 http://www.africanglobe.net/headlines/fact-sheet-state-african-american-women-united-states/