Academic

BLACK LOVE ENDING

By Gregory Parks

I was up late last night reading for my class on Federal Courts and thinking about what to write for my class on Feminist Jurisprudence (and hopefully a law review article).  Valentines Day is upon us, and love is in the air.  However, in law school, among the well-educated sisters I know who are sure to be earning six-figure salaries there is an air of anxiety about a life of wealth but loneliness.  Frequently (almost daily) they raise their concerns about the massive hemorrhage of eligible Black men from the Black community and into the arms of, as they say it with disdain on their lips, ?White women!?  With so much talk about the election and the images of Michelle Obama hugging Barack, and the strong support she?s showing her man, I know a lot of sisters are talking about the need for brothers to find themselves a sister like Michelle.

In light of these concerns, I figured I would write this paper on the role of Brown v. Board & Loving v. Virginia, how they link to long-held explicit/implicit attitudes among Blacks that White is right and Black stay back, and the rise in interracial dating among Black men and White women?thus, a shortage of potential mates for sisters.  But as I set out to write this paper, I wonder how trivial this topic might be.  As a Black man with a modicum of success and future financial security, I honestly don?t worry about the interracial dating/marriage issue that much.  I wonder if this is an overblown issue among many sisters or if their concerns are not simply valid but if this issue is one of the more pressing ones for the Black community.

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Full post as published by BlackProf on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).