According to a recent Yale University report on ABC News Nightline, 42% of Black women have never been married.  In AC360 on CNN, the U.S. Census states that about 30% of Black Women are married.  Black women make about 12% of the women population in America.   

I have always wondered why most Black women never got married, where not in any stable relationship for long, and if they had somebody, it was usually the kind of guy most mothers will tell their sons never to associate with.  I always thought it was a cultural decision in order to have a cheap self-pride of being strong and independent.

With time and observation, I have come to realize that the issue was more economical than cultural.  The average Black woman knows that it is more beneficial for her to be single than to have a husband.  While many educated Black men find it hard to rise above unemployment or lack of steady income that matches their status, the lesser educated ones know how to make a living even if it is illegal, leads to short life expectancy, or brings incarceration.  So it is better to have short term relationships with thugs and not worry about the masculine symptoms of unemployment that could be physical abuse, alcoholism, drug use, suicide, and depression.  Despite the fact that the thugs may not be around for long, they fulfill their masculine needs without the emotional and psychological ties of having a husband. 

While the educated man, despite irregular income, may be smart enough to legally fight for children and get child support in some states, the thug is just a sexual being dispensable with time.  If educated Black men are given the chance to work and get their fair income, Black marriages and stable homes will increase drastically because more Black men will start going to school to reap the benefits.  Until then, many Black women will remain single because many Black men, educated or not, will eventually fall into the symptoms of unemployment to become the cheap laborers of capitalism.