The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors

23
The Crisis in Black Male/Black Female
Relationships: Is it a False Problem?
(July 1985)
Disenchantment with the institution of marriage. Disharmony. Disrespect.
Separation. Divorce. Single female-headed households the
nonn. The absence of male models for developing Black male children
and youth. Epidemic levels of teenage pregnancy. Thousands of children
abandoned to foster care and adoption. Black male bisexuality and
homosexuality. Black female bisexuality and homosexuality. Increasing
numbers of Black females with more education and income than their
Black male counterparts. Hardly any Black persons knowing five happy
Black couples.
Given these dynamics as ever-present realities in the Black community,
it would seem that there is a crisis of immense and serious proportions in
the Black male/Black female relationship in the final decades of the 20th
century. This crisis has far-reaching ramifications that touch every aspect
Black life, extending into facets of the larger social order. During the past
decade, this apparent problem has been seminared, dialogued, discussed,
debated, probed and shouted about from every conceivable angle. Innumerable
remedies have been proposed. No matter from what angle this
issue is approached, the problems don't disappear. Instead, they seem to
multiply, and the alienation between the Black male and the Black female
just increases. If Black male/Black female alienation is not resolved, is
there hope for a meaningful future for the Black race?
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