These babies were delivered by Dr. Everie Chang Gonbealrite.

Answer Hint: No.

Site founder, fellow writer, and sell out of single men now engaged SBM aka EBM wrote a post last week called News Flash: Black Men Still Winning. Fortunately for him, and a strategic move of epic proportions, he prefaced that blog with the news of his engagement so it tempered the comments.

Still, I noticed a number of comments attacking the points put forth in the blog supporting the notion, “black men are winning.” I began to wonder why. If someone states black men are winning, does it indirectly imply that black women are losing? If yes, does that mean we are on competing teams? I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that black men and women were on the same team. I guess I missed the memo where we diverged and pitted ourselves against one another in battle, where the success of one group is to the detriment of the other rather than the betterment of the whole.

EBM quoted mainly from a Wall Street Journal article alleging that in order to cure the black marriage “problem” more black women should date interracially. He also cited another write-up called, New Research Shatters Myths and Provides New Hope for Black Love and Marriage. Today, I’d like to focus on the latter piece. Due to word limits, I can only highlight a limited number of points. If you want to comment on others, feel free to do so below or write your own damn blog.

The [Nightline] article asserts, “Let’s take 100 black men. By the time you eliminate those without a high school diploma (21 percent), the unemployed (17 percent) and those ages 25-34 who are incarcerated (8 percent), you have only half of black men, 54 percent, whom many black women find acceptable.”  Here, the article assembles numbers to assert, rather audaciously, that nearly half of all black men in America are unworthy of marriage because of their undesirable social characteristics.  First, for this statement to be true there has to be zero overlap in these categories.

Degree production has not brought about parity in the personal income of black women and black men.  Nationwide, although more than 800,000 more black women than black men have at least a bachelor’s degree, almost 200,000 more black men than black women earn more than $75,000 per year.

The top five occupations for black men who make six figures without a college degree are: (1) managers, (2) truck drivers, (3) police officers, (4) construction workers, and (5) bailiffs, correctional officers, and jailers.

When the Nightline article first came out, I didn’t notice it lumped all the categories together without accounting for overlap. It actually makes me wonder how often the media does this. I recognize they have to sell stories; however, it is insulting when they do so at your expense with skewed “facts”.

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What also surprised me is the list of professions that make over six figures without a college degree. Other than “managers,” I don’t think I’ve ever heard a woman whose preferences include a man’s income mention she was seeking to date men in any of other the other professions listed. Maybe, despite their income, their professions are not glamorous enough? Depending on your viewpoint, dating a broke popular rapper is better than dating an unknown well-off correctional officer…I guess.

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for:

When analyzing the black women who are 35 and older, the percent who have never been married drops to 25%, indicating that a solid majority of black women get married before they turn 35. Granted, the total percent of unmarried black women is still twice more than for white women who are 35 and older.

The most recent data in fact shows 1.9 million more black women than black men.  However, the same data show 4.6 million more white women than white men.  With this statement, they are exercising arrogant ignorance or deceptive omission to sell the story.

8% of black males who are living at or near poverty have a white wife, and 9% of black males who are middle class or better have a white wife.  Among married black men with a personal income of more than $100,000, 12% have a white wife, 83% have a black wife, and 5% have a wife who is neither black nor white.  Six percent of married black men who are high school dropouts have a white wife and 92% have black wives.  Among black men with college degrees, 10% have a white wife and 85% have black wives. Among black male professional athletes, 72.8% are married to black women, 22.2% are married to white women, and 5% are married to women who are neither black nor white.

There are two ways to view this data: 1) As black men increase their income earnings, while still heavily in the minority, the less likely they are to marry a black woman. 2) As black men increase their earnings, the more exposure they have to women of other races, and therefore, the odds that they will only associate with black women as potential mates decreases.

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People who want to believe rich black guys are marrying white women because of some form of subconscious favoritism that they can now finally act upon will likely argue the former, while those with an economic viewpoint will side with the latter. Neither side is wrong, because both sides have evidence to support their opinions; however, both sides tend to be biased in the facts they’ll accept, often use facts to support opinions as facts, and claim to be objective in their conclusions when they are far from it.

Which brings us to you, the readers. What are your thoughts on these stats and the media’s portrayal of black men, women, and marriages? Do you think the authors adequately served their role as “myth busters”? Did any of this “new” information surprise you?

Save the Date! Next Wednesday, August 31, 2011 – The SBM Fam will be hosting Happy Hour at The Empire Room at The Empire State Building from 6-10pm, please RSVP to rsvp@singleblackmale.org for further information and confirmation