Posted on 04/13/2010 11:51:43 AM PDT by unclebankster
How the mass incarceration of black men hurts black women
IMAGINE that the world consists of 20 men and 20 women, all of them heterosexual and in search of a mate. Since the numbers are even, everyone can find a partner. But what happens if you take away one man? You might not think this would make much difference. You would be wrong, argues Tim Harford, a British economist, in a book called “The Logic of Life”. With 20 women pursuing 19 men, one woman faces the prospect of spinsterhood. So she ups her game. Perhaps she dresses more seductively. Perhaps she makes an extra effort to be obliging. Somehow or other, she “steals” a man from one of her fellow women. That newly single woman then ups her game, too, to steal a man from someone else. A chain reaction ensues. Before long, every woman has to try harder, and every man can relax a little.
Real life is more complicated, of course, but this simple model illustrates an important truth. In the marriage market, numbers matter. And among African-Americans, the disparity is much worse than in Mr Harford’s imaginary example. Between the ages of 20 and 29, one black man in nine is behind bars. For black women of the same age, the figure is about one in 150. For obvious reasons, convicts are excluded from the dating pool. And many women also steer clear of ex-cons, which makes a big difference when one young black man in three can expect to be locked up at some point.
Removing so many men from the marriage market has profound consequences. As incarceration rates exploded between 1970 and 2007, the proportion of US-born black women aged 30-44 who were married plunged from 62% to 33%. Why this happened is complex and furiously debated. The era of mass imprisonment began as traditional mores were already crumbling, following the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the invention of the contraceptive pill. It also coincided with greater opportunities for women in the workplace. These factors must surely have had something to do with the decline of marriage.
But jail is a big part of the problem, argue Kerwin Kofi Charles, now at the University of Chicago, and Ming Ching Luoh of National Taiwan University. They divided America up into geographical and racial “marriage markets”, to take account of the fact that most people marry someone of the same race who lives relatively close to them. Then, after crunching the census numbers, they found that a one percentage point increase in the male incarceration rate was associated with a 2.4-point reduction in the proportion of women who ever marry. Could it be, however, that mass incarceration is a symptom of increasing social dysfunction, and that it was this social dysfunction that caused marriage to wither? Probably not. For similar crimes, America imposes much harsher penalties than other rich countries. Mr Charles and Mr Luoh controlled for crime rates, as a proxy for social dysfunction, and found that it made no difference to their results. They concluded that “higher male imprisonment has lowered the likelihood that women marry…and caused a shift in the gains from marriage away from women and towards men.” Learning and earning
Similar problems afflict working-class whites, but they are more concentrated among blacks. Some 70% of black babies are born out of wedlock. The collapse of the traditional family has made black Americans far poorer and lonelier than they would otherwise have been. The least-educated black women suffer the most. In 2007 only 11% of US-born black women aged 30-44 without a high school diploma had a working spouse, according to the Pew Research Centre. Their college-educated sisters fare better, but are still affected by the sex imbalance. Because most seek husbands of the same race—96% of married black women are married to black men—they are ultimately fishing in the same pool.
Black women tend to stay in school longer than black men. Looking only at the non-incarcerated population, black women are 40% more likely to go to college. They are also more likely than white women to seek work. One reason why so many black women strive so hard is because they do not expect to split the household bills with a male provider. And the educational disparity creates its own tensions. If you are a college-educated black woman with a good job and you wish to marry a black man who is your socioeconomic equal, the odds are not good.
“I thought I was a catch,” sighs an attractive black female doctor at a hospital in Washington, DC. Black men with good jobs know they are “a hot commodity”, she observes. When there are six women chasing one man, “It’s like, what are you going to do extra, to get his attention?” Some women offer sex on the first date, she says, which makes life harder for those who prefer to combine romance with commitment. She complains about a recent boyfriend, an electrician whom she had been dating for about six months, whose phone started ringing late at night. It turned out to be his other girlfriend. Pressed, he said he didn’t realise the relationship was meant to be exclusive.
The skewed sex ratio “puts black women in an awful spot,” says Audrey Chapman, a relationship counsellor and the author of several books with titles such as “Getting Good Loving”. Her advice to single black women is pragmatic: love yourself, communicate better and so on. She says that many black men and women, having been brought up by single mothers, are unsure what role a man should play in the home. The women expect to be in charge; the men sometimes resent this. Nisa Muhammad of the Wedded Bliss Foundation, a pro-marriage group, urges her college-educated sisters to consider marrying honourable blue-collar workers, such as the postman. But the simplest way to help the black family would be to lock up fewer black men for non-violent offences.
just one of the articles fatal flaws.
I saw no reference to the black man that prefered a white woman.
“True, though I’ve also noticed that non-celebrity black guys who are with white women usually tend to be with the skanks that the white guys won’t touch.”
That is true. It’s matter of social status among black males to have a white girlfriend. It doesn’t matter how attractive (or unattractive) the white girl is. I think some black guys would ignore Hallie Barry for the nastiest trailer trash white hog woman.
The solution to the problem is simple.
Incarcerate more black women. Conspiracy, aiding and abetting, concealing stolen property ....
Not necessarily skanks, just gals with big butts, that brothers don't seem to actually like for some reason. "Baby got Back" and all that.
They know exactly what they created and they want it to be that way and want to expand it furthermore, much more. By destroying the black families and put a large number of them on welfare they have locked a large voting block. Liberals are evil because in order for them to obtain power they have destroyed a whole sector of the American society. They created a sector that is completely dependent on the government for survival and in return for this survival they give their vote to the liberals.
“But the simplest way to help the black family would be to lock up fewer black men for non-violent offences.”
I’m sure it’s just me, but I’m thinking that the really simplest way to help the black family would be for black males to commit fewer crimes.
Liberals stop examining policy at the point where the REAL goal is accomplished -
when they feel good about themselves.
“Give poor people money” - I feel good!
“Support single moms” - I feel good!
“Don’t incarcerate minorities” - I feel good!
>The problem is not with the justice system, it is with the people who decide to break the law and then, so tragically, are punished according to the law they chose - CHOSE - to break.
>
>More criminals, not less, deserve to be removed from society, black, white, or otherwise.
There is a problem, however, when you consider illegitimate laws. For example, my state has a “no firearms on universities” law [misdemeanor], HOWEVER the state’s Constitution prohibits any law abridging the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. The aforementioned statute does exactly that.
This is not an irrelevant consideration as it leads directly to considering things like the “ex-felons cant have firearms” laws which abridge the right to self defense, or the “domestic violence” laws which can be so ill-defined that a good angry yelling-match would qualify.
Edited.
“Could it be, however, that mass incarceration is a symptom of increasing social dysfunction, and that it was this social dysfunction that caused marriage to wither? Probably not.”
And why not? This has been going on a long time and they can blame no one but themselves for having kids out of wedlock.
This article kinda made me laugh. I am not racist. I truly believe that a person is a person. It’s their character that makes them good people, not their skintone.
Anyway.....
Why don’t people realize that by spouting these “Black people” or “White People” statistics, they are keeping the racism going? Can’t we all just be “people” ?
I see Spike Lee as one of the main contributors to this. His movies paint a “Every young black male has to be a militant thug to get any respect” picture ! It’ just not true.
I do have to argue with the “most black guys are with skanks that white men don’t want” comment. I work with several people who are in interracial relationships or marriages, and it seems that the female partners are all beautiful !!
We have one very strange (by that I mean unique) couple. The man is black, the lady is white, but their child is white. The child looks just like his Daddy, but he’s white. I’m sure I stared rudely when I saw him for the first time. I couldn’t help it.
Anyway, this is a bunch of bologna. Stop locking up black men because black women are lonely. GOOD LORD.....
I was single and looking for a very long time after my divorce. I’m an average looking woman. Trust me, Black guys aren’t the only “good men” that are in short supply. White guys my age were pretty slim pickins too !! I didn’t “settle for less”, “Lower my standards” or “start giving something extra”. I dated and did eventually find a good man. *WHEW*
Nonsequitur of the year. The Black family began collapsing in the 60's, a direct result of government policies, and long before the explosion of incarceration.
If you stop incarcerating even nonviolent criminals you will have the streets crawling with nonviolent criminals. Just what the little woman wants in her neighborhood, to choose from for Mr Right.
>But the simplest way to help the black family would be to
lock up fewer black men for non-violent offences.
>
>Or the other “easy answer” - throw some more of our hard-earned tax dollars at creating programs and paying benefits to assure them that we feel adequately sorry for them. (NOT)
Or we could just kill everyone; no people means no social problems. It’s a very logical answer.
I have run into some very hot very marriageable ones over time!
Black gentleman that lives next door to me has a white wife and three kids. He’s the best Daddy I think I’ve ever seen. I’d give him the shirt off my back.
Where are dah bitches and hoes? Ah, don’t ya just love that rap and hip hop?
There’s a name for large numbers of unmarried and frustrated young males.
They’re called “cannon fodder”.
Wonder if that’s the plan?
“Support single moms” - I feel good!
“Don’t incarcerate minorities” - I feel good!
Would that be called the James Brown co-efficient???
I’ve noticed that white guys prefer younger women too. I was never gorgeous, but I was always considered cute enough... however, I noticed about the time I passed 37 that white guys tend not to pay much attention to me anymore, whereas I’m getting more offers (shall we say) from blacks and hispanics now. (Disclosure: I’m 5’4”, 138, so my butt isn’t tiny, but it’s not huge.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.