from Amazing Race: Family Edition
I was reading a particular post by Halima Anderson that really hit home the trend of the Something New (Something Screwed), Sell-Out Crew that I have pointed out before. That simply is the trend of fabrication. Quite simply, they basically make things up for the purpose of attempting to justify their positions. In this case, they attempt to justify their double standards on interracial dating. Esha "Evia" Moore has done this herself. They try to justify their negative attitudes toward black men in IR while having positive attitudes toward black women in IR by trying to establish different motivations between black men and black women who date out.
I posted a response on her blog asking for evidence of these different motivations. Needless to say, my post was censored out. I expected this, yet I wanted to submit the post to show how they actually have no evidence for the things they post and as a result of such a lacking of evidence, they simply run from the request. Thus they censor.
For those that are not familiar with Halima, she is a black female British citizen who, for some reason, has a deep disdain for black men in general and seems to imply expertise with regard to issues of African Americans. She proclaims herself a writer and has what seems to be a rather unknown e-book supposedly instructing black women on how to catch white men. I suspect that the book is a joke, but it does exemplify her very overt desire for WHITE MEN over other non-black men. She even tries to justify this, yet I will show precisely how even that falls flat. Lets analyze some of her 'points'.
"We do not lump all interracial dating together. We regard black male interracial dating as distinctly different in character from black female interracial dating and recognise that black male interracial dating has historically born the hallmarks of being founded upon a rejection of and discrimination against black women."
Now while Halima doesn't give evidence for this notion, there are those experts who have done some research. One of those is Kellina Craig-Henderson, professor of psychology at Howard University. She is the author of the book, "Black Men In Interracial Relationships" answers questions about her research at the Washington Post. One question and answer stood out:
Springfield, Va.: Interesting. I look forward to reading the book. Do you find that black men who date non-black women are willing to date black women, but happen to become involved with a non-black woman? Or, is the case that black men have selected their partners based partially on the fact that they are non-black women?
Kellina Craig-Henderson: In my research, I found both. In fact, that is why I concluded that for every Black man who consciously sought out a non-Black woman to date and marry, there was another Black man who could honestly claim happenstance in his interracial realtionship. I hope you enjoy the book.
So based on the research of an expert, she found that at least half the black men in her study could "honestly claim happenstance in his interracial relationship". This greatly shoves a monkey wrench in Halima's premise. Even those men who actively sought out non-black women may not have done so to reject black women, but to embrace diversity in their dating. I'm sure that a large portion of the 92% of married black men who are married to black women have dated non-black women and many of them may have actually sought out such women. In the end, they married black women.
"We recognise the different motivations of black male interracial dating and that of black female interracial dating. We recognise that black female interracial dating is often driven by the unavailability of black male partners(traditional dating pool) , a situation which interracial dating among black men contributes to. This means that black women’s interracial choices are not a direct rejection of black males as can be argued in the case of black men, whose motivations cannot be linked to unavailability of black female partners, yet whose interracial dating rates are higher than black females."
Another flawed premise. For one, the notion of the "unavailability" of black male partners is mostly a myth. For one, while 70% of black women are single, 68% of black men are single. Such a large single rate for black men equates to a large group of available black men. What folks fail to realize is that while black people are not getting married nearly as often as in the past, black men and women are dating and being intimate as much as ever and probably more. Even with the general public, marriage is at its lowest rate, yet intimacy and dating are still quite high. The greater trend of being single for blacks is just another example of how negative trends tend to hit blacks the hardest. Heck, one cannot simply blame black men for the low marriage rates since research has shown that men tend to value marriage more than women and black women value marriage less than other groups of women:
Of course, they will respond by saying that there is a lack of quality black men, yet this assumes that there is not a similar lack of quality black women. You see, Halima, Evia, and their followers tend to define things such as "quality" in a way that makes black women appear to be so much better than black men. But lets look at a few things that black men (or men in general) view as a "quality" or lack of when it comes to women.
1. A single women without kids are something that black men see as quality. It is becoming more and more difficult for single black men to find childless women. Black women are still having children out of wedlock at a high rate and at young ages, thus making single, childless black women less and less common.
2. Black men see women who are NOT overweight as quality. Up to 80% of black women are overweight. Being overweight is often a sign of a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of energy. Being overweight is often a sign of laziness (not in all cases). Studies have shown that overweight women have lower sex drives. Being overweight often takes away the petite qualities that research has shown to be more attractive to men.
3. Tattoos. In modern time, it has become popular for females to sport tattoos as opposed to the past whereas tattoos were something that was seen almost entirely on men and even then, a minority of men. Today, the number of women with tattoos actually slightly exceeds the number of men with them. With non-black women, tattoos are primarily those viewed as "lady tattoos" and generally appear on the small of the back and on the side of the calf, yet with black women there seems to be far less restraint with regard to where tattoos are located and what the tattoos are. Thus, it is not uncommon to see black women with tattoos and their shoulders and arms, across their upper chests, on their thighs and on their necks. These often include the names of their previous lovers and profanity (I once saw a black woman with "bad bitch" tattooed on her arm). It is quite reasonable to say that images like this tend to make a woman appear considerably less "wifey material". Such a woman is quick to be labeled as less quality for it often takes an unsound woman to place such unbecoming marks on her body.
4. Attitudes. This has been a source of argument for a while in this unfortunate so-called "gender war". The stereotype of the attitudes of many black women is a stereotype that members of the Something New/Something Screwed Crew seem to want to declare as totally fabricated or try to relabel as "strength". They accuse black men of promoting this, yet white people probably hold more to this stereotype than anyone else. In this study, it is shown that a sample of white college students, half of whom are male, perceive black women as "loud, aggressive, argumentative, stubborn, and bitchy". Most stereotypes are exaggerated, yet have at least some bases in reality. This stereotype definitely doesn't apply to all black women, yet it is reasonable to conclude that such characteristics are disproportionately prevalent among black women and men of any race will generally view such attitudes and behaviors as poor quality.
5. Education. Contrary to what they want you to believe, there is no massive amount of black women gaining higher degrees as opposed to a minuscule amount of black men doing the same. Only 18% of African American women achieve college degrees compared to roughly 12% of black men who do the same. Thus 82% of African American women have something that 88% of African American men have, and this in NO HIGHER DEGREE. Even the high school drop-out rates for black men and black women are practically even (9.5% for black women and 10.5% for black men). Thus, there is no significant number of educated black women who can't find similarly educated black men. And with the significant number of enabling black women who are so desiring of men behind bars, even incarceration is not a good excuse for the notion of a lack of black men.
"We believe in propagating the message of black women availing themselves of all their dating options, and in particular the interracial dating options, and in particular their opportunities with white men who constitute the largest group of available men in the West."
This a notion that clearly has basis in ignorance and simplistic thinking. While white men are the largest group of men in the West, that does not make them the largest group of AVAILABLE men in the West. You see, the top competitors for their affections are white women who are the largest group of women in the west. Thus, the sheer magnitude of competition for white men from white and Asian women negates their larger numbers, thus making then not so available to black women as Halima thinks.
"We believe that black women are both socialised against, socially restrained from and directed away from taking up their ‘full dating options’, in various ways and throughout their lives."
I'm happy that she stressed "believe" because what one believes is contrary to what is truth. I'll take what an actual sociology professor says over what Halima says any day:
"When it comes to Black/White interracial relationships my research indicates, that White women face the most family opposition of all of the race/gender groups. The tactics used to show opposition in White women’s families are often more extreme. They appear to be the group most likely to be disowned or disinvited when they enter interracial relationships."
I will also take research over what she says:
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:0veZleIIxIMJ:www.oberlin.edu/faculty/ndarling/transition/group4/Paper_3.html+%22Stefanie+Saia%22+%22transition%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
"Within the black community, however, women have been found to disagree more with interracial marriage than men. Researchers Paset and Taylor (1991) studied black and white college women and their attitudes toward interracial marriage. Their results proved their hypothesis that black women see interracial relationships of black men and white women as a threat to their personal and community well being.
Todd, McKinney, Harris, Chadderton, and Small (1992) did a similar study, and their findings were almost identical to the previous study. Black women were found to be the most negative group in the study since almost half of the female participants disagreed with interracial dating and marriage. These women held traditional values and felt that dating and marrying outside their race was perceived as a "let down." They also resented the competition of white women dating black men since they felt their minority group has a lack of available partners."
Clearly, black women react more negatively to black men in IR than black men react to black women in IR.
So in conclusion, if one really analyzes Anderson's words and compares them to the research, one can only logically conclude that she basically does not know what she is talking about.
13 comments:
Hey Rocky I was looking up things and while black single parent hood has gone up like 122% since the 60s white single parenthood has gone up 229%! Also I didn't the single rate of black men was that high! Very interesting research.
Way to fight fire with water, Rocky. Black people and especially black men have their issues but no amount of illogic is going to work. All we can do is expose it. They will censor it on their sites, but any intelligent woman already knows much of what we are saying.
Good job, bro!
Mel
London
Bro,
I'm keeping a very close eye on Halima, not least of all because we are both Black-British. I know from studying her work that she is very prone to telling outright lies in order to score points.
I really wished she's simply get a life and move on instead of pretending that she's trying to save Black women from "evil" Black men.
She just can't let us Bros go and that is the point of everything she writes. How happy is that?
Menelik Charles
London England
Thanks for the kind words ya'll. Yes Raina, I agree that the high single rate for black men is interesting. They don't like to mention that fact.
Glad to have you here Menelik. I would love to hear the perspective of a British brotha. Same for Mel. I am glad that you are likewise aware of Halima's dishonesty. She is not unique among this crew. Demagoguery tends to require dishonesty. Do keep a watch on her and continue your input.
And Raina, you are simply a breath of fresh air. We need women like you to get out the truth.
@Rocky:Thank you. Thank you. I try. ;)
Great post...
@ Raina
Your so true about the single parenthood in both white and black communities. I work along side white women who are single mothers, I work around women of all ethnic groups who are single mothers. People are just making it look like its a black thing when in reality everyone is suffering from single parenthood.
and rocky thank you for the stat on single black men. Everyday i hear people go all hyper on the 7-% single for black women and I have to ask myself don't people ever questioned what the single rate is for black men. Then I remembered that most people don't ever question the stats that come out.
Hey Ebony. You look very lovely on your picture. Check out the stat on "never been married".
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_59/ai_110361377
"Nearly 45 percent of Black men have never married and 42 percent of Black women have never married."
Logically, if only 8 or 9 percent of married black men marry out compared to 3% of black women marrying out and 70% of black women are single, it makes sense that a similar number of black men are single.
Rocky
You hit it right on the nail. I often say your the best researcher I have ever met. You must have a sociology background like me.
Obviously you know statistics better than me. I never really thought about the single black male rate. I know this incarceration is a leading factor on why black men are single. Unless the research excludes black men in the correction system.
Also you have to exclude gay black men. Other than that your research is always on point.
Later
@Ebony: That is so true! That's just like welfare were they want to say it's just blacks when there are more whites on Welfare than blacks!
Hi people,
just to point out: Menelik and Mel are the same person, namely ME!
Sorry for the confusion.
Menelik/Mel Charles
London England
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