Sex and the single black woman: how the mass incarceration of black men hurts black women

Written by Alan Bean

“The simplest way to help the black family would be to lock up fewer black men for non-violent offences.”

Michelle Alexander recommended this disturbing article in the Economist when she spoke in Dallas last Thursday.

Consider this:

Some 70% of black babies are born out of wedlock. The collapse of the traditional family has made black Americans far poorer and lonelier than they would otherwise have been. The least-educated black women suffer the most. In 2007 only 11% of US-born black women aged 30-44 without a high school diploma had a working spouse, according to the Pew Research Centre. Their college-educated sisters fare better, but are still affected by the sex imbalance. Because most seek husbands of the same race—96% of married black women are married to black men—they are ultimately fishing in the same pool.

2 thoughts on “Sex and the single black woman: how the mass incarceration of black men hurts black women”

  2. The solution which will be adopted is obvious. Increase the rate of imprisonment of black women to balance the sex ratios outside prison.

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