Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Editor's Picks
Editor's PicksList

8 Popular Myths That Continue to Hold Back and Destroy the Black Community

Posted byBy A Moore | Published on: CommentsComments (3)
Image by © Greg Hinsdale/Corbis

Image by © Greg Hinsdale/Corbis

Black People Don’t Get Married

One of the most pervasive myths about romantic relationships involving Black couples is that their relationships rarely end in marriage. After examining census data from 2005 to 2009, Howard and Morehouse scholars Ivory A. Toldson and Bryant Marks found that 75 percent of Black women marry before age 35.

Eighty-eight percent of married Black men tied the knot with a Black woman, according to Toldson’s research. He also noted that Black women in small towns have higher marriage rates than white women in urban centers such as New York and Los Angeles.

Black people should rebuke the media and society at large for propagating this silly misconception that continues to breed more mistrust and alienation between Black men and women.

 

 

white teacher ensures black students learn about African heritagepng

Whites and Other Groups Should Help Black People

Black empowerment leader Marcus Garvey said that “the best of a race does not live on the patronage and philanthropy of others, but makes an effort to do for itself.” He also warned that “any leadership that teaches you to depend upon another race is a leadership that will enslave.”

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top