Where all the black men are

The male-female ratio is causing social havoc and is responsible for how you dress, how you act, what car you drive, and even, how you view yourself, according to Tim Harford, a British economist and author of a book called “The Logic of Life”.
The Economist shines a light on what black women -- actually all women who want a black man -- have to go through in a startling piece.
It's no secret that incarceration rates are affecting family and communities, but the overall effect on something as simple and sacred as love -- LOVE -- remains understudied and underestimated. While there is ample evidence about this subject, Harford has a way of showing the economic side of this travesty, underlining the lost dollars that a household does without due to a jailed husband or father.
A not-too-mentioned side effect of the lack of available, eligible, educated and gainfully employed men of color is that numerous black women are -- whether they like it or not -- forced to compete for the few that are out there.
Sexual urges being what they are in society, competition is not inherently fair.
And that does something, self-esteem-wise, I think. I may not be exactly sure what it does. But the effects are pretty obvious.
What's a single black female to do?




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Ethnic Wars: Does 'Black' Even Matter Anymore?

with the January inauguration of President Obama, you'd think this "post-racialism" thing would cool off by now and normalcy would reign.
But racism, racemongering and racialism are all alive and kicking this year -- one would argue that from recent headlines this has been the most racial summer since the civil rights unrest of the 1960s.
Not only are we seeing the true colors of "progressives," "conservatives" and the like, but even African-Americans are acting out.
Four hundreds years after coming to this country, there is still a turbulent debate on what "black" even is.
Obama (and to a lesser extent Tiger Woods) has helped usher in a whole group of people who assign themselves to both black and white, or neither.
It's a great debate, but the question is does it even matter ... anymore?
What's black, what's not black, and who really cares?

'I Want to Be Like You'

Spurred on by nothing more than the slow wheels of progress, there has been a paradigm shift in the thinking of racial archtypes (note I didn't say stereo) in recent years.
While as little as 10 years ago, many African-American women who looked a certain way, wore their hair a particular way were fashioned as trying to be "European," nowadays it's just as easy to see Caucasian women emulating the styles of black women.
This 'I want to be you' commune is not new: Take a youth, any youth, and surround him with positive, strong role models then you will in effect create a positive, strong role model.
Does that mean that we are post-racism in society? Noooo. It means that we can no longer afford to subconsciously judge a person just on race.
Take a young girl and surround her with diverse friends and exposure to different cultures, and it's likely you'll create a person that emulates the best from various cultures, styles and faiths.
It's natural: 'I see you' 'I understand you' 'I want to be you'.