arts & entertainment
Book review: Is Marriage for White People?
“Over the past half-cen-
tury, African-.Americans
have become the most
unmarried people in our
nation. By far. We are the
least likely to marry and
the most likely to divorce;
we maintain fewer com-
mitted and enduring rela-
tionships than any other
group. Not since slavery
have Black men and
women been as un-partnered as we are
now…
Why? Black women of all socioeconomic
classes remain single in part because the
ranks of Black men have been decimated by
incarceration, educational failure, and eco-
nomic disadvantage… Yet despite the short-
age of Black male peers, Black women do
not marry men of other races.
Black women marry across class lines, but
not race lines. They marry down but not out.
Thus, they lead the most racially-segregated
intimate lives of any Americans.”
Excerpted from the Introduction (pgs. 2-3)
T
his book has the sort of eye-catching
title which suggests that the content
might be superficial. But no, the
author, a professor of law at Stanford
University, launched a serious investigation
here into the question of whether African-
Americans are the marrying kind anymore.
Professor Ralph Richard Banks was
ostensibly inspired by the
troubling statistics indi-
B ook
cating that ”Jumping the
r eViewS
Broom” has become less
and less popular not only
among ghetto-dwelling
by Kam
Blacks but also among the
Williams
middle and upper-classes.
So, he decided to examine
the issue of the break-
down of the African-
American family in depth by conducting
research, by amassing a combination of
anecdotal and scientific evidence.
The upshot of that effort is “Is Marriage
for White People?” a controversial opus
which offers a surprising solution to the
burgeoning problem. Believe it or not, the
groundbreaking book makes the case for
sisters getting out of their comfort zone and
entering more romantic relationships with
Caucasians, Asians and Latinos.
Banks’ basic thesis is that because Black
females are generally better-educated and
make more money than brothers, it’s silly
for them to restrict themselves to a dating
pool of just Black men. Besides, he says
Black males tend to take them for granted,
and to think nothing of sleeping with more
than one woman at once.
Paradoxically, the author ultimately
arrives at the counter-intuitive conclusion
that, “For Black women, interracial mar-
Page 6 The Portland Skanner october 19, 2011
Photo By natalie glatZel
Forget Black men? Author says Black women
should marry outside their comfort zone
ralph richard Banks
riage doesn’t abandon race, it serves the
race,” because “If more Black women mar-
ried non-Black men, more Black men and
women might marry each other.” That
humdinger of a plan might very well be the
answer, but it sure sounds to me a lot like
traveling East in order to go West.
To order a copy of Is Marriage for White
People visit:
http://astore.amazon.com/theska-20
Is Marriage for White
People?
How the African-American
Marriage Decline Affects Everyone
by Ralph Richard Banks, Esq.
Dutton
Hardcover, $25.95
302 pages
ISBN: 978-0-525-95201-5