Analysis Of Dawne Mouzon's Black People Don T Value Marriage

Getting Real About Race I chose to do my paper on Dawne Mouzon’s “Black People Don’t Value Marriage as Much as Other Groups” essay. This essay not only opened my eyes, but changed even more of the views I had on marriage and race. Mouzon not only speaks about Black, White, and Mexican American marriages, but she also does a great amount of research that helps support her article. Many of the surveys involved questions about how important it was for the family to have a good steady income, an exceptional education, and good economic stability. The results from the surveys blew me away. I could not believe how unaware and close minded I was when it came to race and marriage. It caused me to take a step back and think about some of the reasons …show more content…
She not only found that Blacks actually valued marriage more than White people, but that many Latinos and Blacks valued many more important things in marriages than Whites. For example; Tucker’s data states that Blacks and Latinos agreed that children need a home with both the mom and dad in order for them to grow up joyfully more than White people. I found this shocking only because I feel as though I have seen more Whites married with children than Blacks and Latinos. My reasoning for feeling this way could be because I rarely grew up around Blacks and Latinos. Like I have mentioned before, my neighborhood did not consist of all but maybe two or three Black families. I did not grow up being familiar with minority groups due to my race and being in the upper middle class. Tucker helped change my views on this situation though with the responses from her surveys. They stated that one of the main reasons why Blacks and Latinos don’t get married is because of the extreme money problems they fear. This becomes more understanding when the essay talks about how Black men face more unemployment rates than White men, even if they have the same education. I was somewhat aware of that, but did not realize how bad it really was until I saw the statistics. It now does not surprise me why they …show more content…
Before this reading, I didn’t realize that I actually had some stereotypes when it came to Black and Latino marriages. I had a generalization that they chose not to marry simply because they didn’t want to, that it was not normal to them. I now realize how hard it truly is for Blacks and Latinos, as well as other minority groups in today’s society; not only for them to marry, but to maintain well paying jobs, as well as many other situations. It really showed me how difficult it must be being in a minority group and having to face these severe struggles everyday. It proves that Blacks and Latinos really do struggle with having access to wealth, and also shows the lack of power they have. My views have not only been transformed, but they have actually made me want to make a change in our society. How much longer will minority groups have to