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Black people are the least married. Here is why
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Feb 6, 2025
#blacklove #blackexcellence #marriage Black people are the least married racial group in America. Why? We dive into the many factors that have lead to Black marriages crashing hard.
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marriage has long been considered a
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foundational institution in many
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societies providing emotional social and
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economic stability looking at data even
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from recent years it's clear that those
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who are married tend to do better in
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society married households have higher
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income married people in general have
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better physical and mental health and
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kids that grow up in a two- parent
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household experience a more stable
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childhood this might change in the
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future as our culture changes even more
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but that's where we are right now but in
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recent years marriage has gradually
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declined in the US in 2022 there were
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6.2 marriages per 1,000 population in
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2000 the rate was 8.2 per 1,000 people
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looking back at when the rate was the
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highest in modern times in 1945 it was
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17 per 1,000 people seeing these numbers
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there is one thing that stood out to me
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marriage rates across the board have
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declined true but marriage rates for
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black Americans is notably lower
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compared to other races according to the
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Pew Research Center 63% of Asian adults
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and 57% of white adults are married but
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only 33% of black adults are married why
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the big disparity when it comes to
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marriage rates in this video we will
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examine multifaceted reasons behind this
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trend examining historical economic
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social and cultural factors that
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contribute to the lower marriage rates
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among black Americans and as always I
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look forward to your input on this topic
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my goal with all my videos is to start a
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conversation and I run to the comment
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section with every video we post so I'll
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see you in the comments the lower
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marriage rates among black Americans
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cannot be understood without considering
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the historical context of black families
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in America during slavery black families
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were often forcibly separated and the
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legal institution of marriage was not
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recognized for enslaved people this
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historical trauma has had lasting
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effects on family Dynamics and Community
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structures the Jim Crow era and
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subsequent discriminatory policies
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continued to undermine black families
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economic disenfranchise M limited access
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to Quality education and systematic
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barriers to home ownership and wealth
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accumulation have had long-term impacts
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on family stability and marriage rates
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black marriage rates peaked at around
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60% between 1950 and the 1960s the era
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of the Civil Rights Movement so what
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happened after the 1950s and the60s
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remember marriage rates across the board
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have declined so there is obviously a
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major cultural shift that happened after
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the mid-century era one of the biggest
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things blamed for this phenomenon is the
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feminist movement as women joined the
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workforce in high numbers and maybe some
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began to view marriage as a want and not
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a need before the time women worked
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outside of the home and earned money in
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large numbers it was vital to get
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married and have a man financially
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provide for you crazy little fact I
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think it was either in the 60s or 7s
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when women finally were able to buy a
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home without a man which is crazy to me
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as we focus on the black community there
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are those who make two arguments as to
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to why the marriage rate dropped off so
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dramatically after the 1960s one
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argument is that President Johnson's
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social welfare programs pretty much
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destroyed the black community by
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providing financial support to lowincome
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families and especially to single
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mothers these programs include the
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expansion of food stamps and some
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healthc care programs so they argue and
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these are mostly conservative
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commentators that black single mothers
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were pretty much incentivized to say
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single and keep having babies out of
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wedlock and the government will support
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you the second argument again this is
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coming from conservatives is that the
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Black Culture just doesn't value
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marriage period they view this as a type
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of cultural flaw I personally don't find
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these arguments very convincing the
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first argument that welfare destroyed
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the black community begs the question
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did the egg come first before the
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chicken did the black community need
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welfare first because they were
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economically struggling or did black
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women just wake up one day and say I'm
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going to get this free money and just
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stay single basically I'm going to raise
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kids by myself still struggle mind you
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because we all know you don't live large
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on welfare and barely survive because
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I'd rather get this free bread and
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government cheese than have a marriage
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yeah I don't think so as for the second
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argument there was actually research
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done by social psychologist Belinda
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Tucker about attitudes towards marriage
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and black communities she found out
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black people value marriage just as much
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if not more than white people obviously
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coming from the Black Culture myself I
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personally know valuing marriage less is
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not the problem something else has to be
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it let me know in the comments if you
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view this differently so let me tell you
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an argument that explains the sharp
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decline in marriages that makes a little
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more sense to me economic stability is a
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crucial Factor influencing marriage
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rates Financial insecurity and limited
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economic opportunities can deter
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individuals from marrying as economic
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stability is often seen as a
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prerequisite for starting and
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maintaining a family what started to
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happen in the post 1960s era in Black
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communities is that jobs slowly started
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to disappear due to the historical lack
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of educational opportunities black
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people and specifically black men were
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mostly employed in Blue Collar jobs
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there were mainly factories in cities
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like Detroit La Chicago San Francisco
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and the likes if you remember the great
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migration of the black population from
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the south to the north Midwest and the
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West was largely driven by the
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opportunity to find work in big cities
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as factories begin to shut down black
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men found themselves unemployed in
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massive numbers we have economic
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instability in a community that's
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segregated with very limited or
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underfunded educational opportunities
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and I don't know if you've notice but
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unemployed men tend to not want to jump
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the broom or people want to jump the
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broom with them it's easy to see how in
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an environment like this there would be
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a huge decline in marriages then there
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is one other potent ingredient that gets
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added into the mix and that's the drug
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epidemic of the' 70s and 80s in the
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black community it's the same thing
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we're witnessing now with the opioid
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crisis in rural communities across R
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America that have struggled with the
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closing of Mining and other job
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opportunities when people lose their
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livelihood and then drugs are brought in
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the devastation is incredible except
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when it happened in Black communities
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the government send in swat teams and
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mass incarceration followed instead
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that's yet another piece that
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contributed to the declining marriage
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rate high incarceration rates among
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black men reduced the pool of eligible
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partners and disrupt existing
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relationships there is now a very
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interesting Dynamic that has formed in
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the black community as black men have
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struggled to get ahead who has gotten
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way ahead is black women according to
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the Journal of blacks in higher
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education black women earn about 2third
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of all bachelor's degrees awarded to
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black students 70% of all master's
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degrees and 60% of all doctorates and
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black women are closing on the income
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gap between the Sexes very fast and as
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research has shown that women regardless
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of race seek a partner that is as
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educated as they are and earns as much
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as they do if not higher so if these
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educational Gap Trends persist and black
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women out earn black men marriage rates
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are going to decline even more of course
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you can make the argument that black
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people will just marry outside of their
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race but again the research shows that
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over 80% of black people marry within
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their race so where does this leave our
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community I believe we are clearly in
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some type of transitional period and
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where we are headed will be nothing like
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the way we have lived not just in the
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last few decades but in the last few
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centuries we are at the inner
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intersection of a new gender Dynamics AI
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technology is disrupting the job market
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and our daily lives in massive ways the
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loneliness epidemic is only growing and
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birth rates are declining across the
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world there is just so so much coming
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down the pipeline of this Human
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Experience no matter where we are headed
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I'm afraid the black community will
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continue to drag behind if we don't
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address historical disparities now like
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I mean right now and to be honest this
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should have been done decades ago we
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will forever play catchup in whatever
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way Society changes I'm curious to know
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what you think and if you have made it
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all the way to the end of this video you
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owe me a subscription and please hit
8:07
that like button let's talk in the
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comments
#Discrimination & Identity Relations
#Marriage
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