All Lives Matter.
White Lives Matter
Asian Lives Matter
Arab Lives Matter
Indigenous Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter
Black Women Matter
Black Men Matter Too!
In racialised societies especially in those where White Men are dominant at the top of the pecking order, Black People generally have worse outcomes in longevity and income vs. White People.
Black Women on average although having worse outcomes in longevity and income vs. White Women and White Men, still live longer and earn more than Black Men.
Black Men on average under perform black women, white women and white men in all metrics for longevity and income. Yet there is limited discussion of the complete emasculation of Black Men in White Male dominated societies. They are the ones who need the most help and yet getting the least attention and support.
Perhaps it is because society generally expects men to be self sufficient whatever their color. They are the ones who must pull themselves by the boot strap, carry women on their backs in disasters and be drafted to war in times of conflict. Perhaps it is society’s high expectation of Men to provide for themselves and others and to lead that makes people expect nothing less from Black Men. We treat men who cry in public very differently from women who do the same. And if Black Men cry in public, they are even worse treated. Men in general and especially Black Men in particular are the ones who must hold their emotions in check, who cannot hug and express feelings with their peers and who must figure out their path with limited social or government support. These are matters that are taken for granted for women and contributes to why they generally outlive men.
Although Black Men are at the bottom in all social indices of White dominated racialised societies, they are the least supported in all forms of government, private capital and social interventions for oppressed peoples in racialised societies.
There seems to be a lot of focus on Black women (and nothing wrong with this as they matter) in discussing about racial inequality, perhaps because of vociferous representation and societal expectations that does not frown on supporting women as compared to men.
However the data speaks to the fact that it is in fact Black Men that are at the worst receiving end of racial injustice in white dominated racialised societies
A leading think tank- Brookings in its 2018 Report: The inheritance of Black Poverty: It is all about the men concluded that “Black girls are, relatively speaking, more likely to move out of poverty in terms of their own earnings. In terms of their individual earnings, black women have similar odds of escaping poverty as white women, though both these groups lag behind the upward mobility of white men.Black women do reasonably well in fact as well as White Women in terms of upward mobility in personal earnings, however they perform very poorly in terms of family income. Black men on the other hand perform worst of all groups for personal earnings and family income. When Black Women perform poorly in family income it is for the sole reason that they tend to create families with black men who do poorly on both counts and thus bring down the family income results for black women. “
Black Women move up by themselves in white dominated racialised societies ; it is the poverty of their black men that pulls them back down.
Adebayo Alonge
That Black women are pulled down by the failure of their black men is logical.
Black Men and their potential are being lost to premature deaths, mass incarceration and entrenched underemployment.
They are the ones getting killed and incarcerated at disproportionate rates.
In white dominated societies, Black women get more and better jobs than black men and earn more than black men even when weighing for same skill levels and experience- by the way most black men lag black women in skills and experience because most of their lives are spent in jail and in underemployed work.
Black men generally unlike black women tend to be more rejected from white spaces because they are seen as menacing except if they are sports or movie stars of which the vast majority are not.
As a result because most black men cannot earn or achieve at the levels of the black women and are mostly incarcerated and underemployed, the black family cannot be formed stably and black women end up single or as single mothers or have to or choose to pair up with white men (for those pursuing hypergamy or if left with limited viable black male options).
It is very clear that the Black Woman who marries a White Man has the greatest chance for her family and her next generation to escape poverty. If she were to marry the average black man, this potential escape from inter-generational poverty will be almost non-existent.
As a result the average successful black family of any kind tends to be the mixed race type with close approximation to whiteness. This trend for better outcomes for mixed race black families vs. pure black race families in white dominated societies will eventually lead to the ‘skin lightening” of the black race and extinction of pure blacks from racialised societies. Those pure blacks that survive will remain stuck at the bottom of society for eternity.
It is simply common sense and self preservation for black women to pair up with white men given the poor prospects for black men in white dominated societies.
Adebayo Alonge
If you want to solve the black poverty problem- empower black men. mentor them. train them. protect them.
There are many social programs for women and especially for black women which is a good thing and must be retained, expanded and supported.
However there is one demography that is in deep trouble and needs help. And it is shocking that no one is talking about them. They are the ones completely absent in tech conferences where the token black representation is often black female.
And I am speaking from my own personal experience as often times in many tech events I am the only black male for miles on end.
Black men are the ones disproportionately represented by media and even facial recognition for violent crime and being the cause for all manner of social problems. This media representation creates perceptions that has real life consequences in terms of societal expectations of what the average black male should be- big, hypermasculine, unthinking, brash, loud, unintelligent and ‘crime-philic’ and what he eventually lives up to.
Many black men can relate to having heard at least once in ‘civilized spaces’, “you are not the typical black person”.
Sadly people often live up to the expectations set for them. If black boys are expected to be hypermasculine, risk loving and loud unintelligent ‘crime-philics’, they will live up to it. And unfortunately they will also die and underachieve by the consequences arising from this expectation.
Society must solve for the black male economic problem by providing the same sort of economic and social programs widely available to lift up women- perhaps even more so given how so far behind black men are. These social support programs must be created and expanded for black men across board if society is to solve the Black Poverty problem.
Of all Black People, Black Men need the most help and society should not be ashamed to help them. Doing so will significantly reduce all social crimes for which Black Males are often accused for especially because their participation in these anti-social practices is driven by their deeply entrenched multi-generational poverty, limited economic prospects and few viable role models to show them how to navigate modern society.
For all lives to matter, black lives must matter and especially black men must matter too.
Adebayo Alonge 