Prospects of Marriage among African Americans: Assignment 4

Living in Austin, Texas has provided me with different cultural backgrounds and different points of view when it comes to marriage. My dad personally advise me to try to live with a partner before considering marrying him just because is not the same dating than living with the person. The union between a man and a woman is not easy, it takes commitment, common interests and patience.  Throughout this week, I learned different things that I was not aware of in the African American community. A national black marriage day/event for example, was the most shocking action that the community is trying to do mainly because we live in a  society that does not practice the same values that we used to before. Some people decide to just live together, it does not matter if they are African American, Latino or Asian. I did not  expect that African American saw it as a big dilemma nowadays and decided to take action with their churches and other community organizations. I understand the strong value that families portray in their life but sometimes there are just people with different mindsets that do not connect with the right person. That person might even be from another race and I do not see anything wrong with that.
I love the idea that more African American women are getting educated and living independently. Usually, the negative stereotype that I heard about this women is that they only have a lot of children and live out of the government. Again I blame the ignorance that the border towns in Texas have over diverse cultures. However, sixty percent of them living well with a complete education, ambition and independence to me that is what the American Dream is about. Knowing that only twenty-nine percent of this women actually decide to marry while the rest stay single is not a really bad thing in my opinion. They can use that freedom to be members of change and to inform the communities how to raise the standards of black males. It also depresses me how we are expanding our concept of women empowerment but we are forgetting the male and how easy is for them to fall into negative influences. This is how both genders lose interest one over the other. Lack of self-esteem, support and desire to live a good life affect the way they interact in the real world. Sometimes is just frustrating to see people spread away from their roots, their origins, their dreams because of the lack of communication and support that they did not  received in their house or the school they attended.