Does anybody remember Claire and Cliff Huxtable? Florida and James Evans or Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv? Maybe they’re too old to remember, perhaps DeWayne and Whitley might ring a bell? These prominent black couples were once the common portrayal of the black family on American Television. Nowadays you turn on the TV and are greeted by Stevie J arguing with Joseline over child support. As a culture, we now relate more to Love & Hip Hop than than we do My Wife and Kids. Seems like the once solid image of the black family has been decreasingly uncommon and that is a problem.
Though the trend of marriage between all Americans has decreased dramatically over the years, it is more evident within the black community. According to the U.S. Census, 43.3 percent of black men and 41.9 percent of black women have never been married. Furthermore, in the time period between 1970 to 2001, the overall marriage rate for black people declined 34 percent. Even in the hellish times of slavery, black men and women still managed to create some sort of familial unit with the old tradition of jumping the broom as a symbol of union. Why is it that we were more likely to marry and build a family then, than we are now? Why is this the case? What happened to the black family?
The image of the black family that was once seen as a powerful force and a long term goal, is now a surprising oddity. Growing up, I was one of many kids at school being raised by a single mother. Many people don’t realize that the lack of a family structure creates grounds for other problems to stem. Without two incomes, the single black mother struggles to provide for her young alone, finding conflict between working multiple jobs and finding babysitters. Black males are faced with the undesirable weight of child support that they don’t want to pay or can’t afford in the first place. This leads to accumulated debt and in some cases, incarceration; robbing the children of the black father figure they so desperately need. Those same children grow up with the ideology that a male figure is not necessary so they have their own children out of wedlock and they find themselves in the same position with the same conflicts. As a community, we should take steps to teach our children that building a black family is important and break the cycle of broken families.
It appears that strong familial units can be the foundation that today’s black children need in a world that’s against them. For black parents, it can be the foundation for pooling resources and wealth building. Following the “success sequence” of marriage then baby, brings the stability necessary to build a solid family. Or maybe we should bring slavery back. The choice is yours.