Friday, December 5, 2008

Black Women's Vote

In an effort of continual education on those who voted for Prop 8, I've decided to post an interesting NY Times Op-Ed piece written by columnist Charles M. Blow, which discusses some theories on why black women, who were twice as likely as black men, voted for Prop 8.

An intriguing read that can inform our efforts to repeal Prop 8. Also a graphics editor, Charles M. Blow posted this graph below which is a great visual of statistics. It gets lost amongst the busy layout of the website, so I wanted to be sure to post it here.




1 comment:

  1. Hi there!

    This is a little long but allow me to weigh in.

    I am very late on commenting on this post but I think that Charles Blow presents some very bogus "theories" about what HE THINKS that black women think about.

    {yawn}

    Another black man trying to get into the heads of black women and psychoanalyze.

    {yawn}

    Actually, I think he is "implying" that many black women will not support gay marriage because they are unpartnered and it's a "sore subject". This suggests that the vote of black women is all about baggage and not about principles. I think that is a demeaning and insulting perception to put out there.

    If black women aren't in favor of gay marriage then could it be that they don't believe homosexuality/lesbianism is a "MORAL" lifestyle?

    Yes, I used the word "lifestyle" and not orientation.

    This is so key.

    When people view homosexuality/lesbianism as a "lifestyle" then they are not placing it in the context of a genetically-determined identification but are placing it in the context of an individual choice that one makes.

    It is true that most black congregations have a break down like this:
    70% women
    30% men and children

    Still, most black congregations and ALL of the black denominations are being led by black men. Charles Blow leaves out this key point in his "analysis".

    With some exceptions, the black church IS DEFINITELY anti-gay and anti-lesbian and anti-abortion.

    I disagree that black women are against interracial marriage. Black women were forced in slavery to bear children resulting from rapes of white slave owners. I believe that this historical resentment may be one key reason why there will always be a certain percentage of black women who will never seek to partner with white men.

    U.S. Census data reveals that more than 100,000 black women are married to white men. This doesn't include cohabitating BW/WM couples.

    While many black men may think that most black women are focused on their partnering choice, I think that the segment of the black female population that has "issues" with BM/WM pairings is shrinking. I am noticing lots of IR dating blogs hosted by black women now.

    Prop 8 failed to have the support among black women voters because those who advocated for Prop 8 didn't bother to engage black women in the development of the legislation and then expected black women to jump on the wagon after the fact.

    Newsflash: If you don't invite us to be stakeholders and decision makers from the beginning, do not ask us to carry the banner at the parade.

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