I am blessed to have great friendships with women of different backgrounds and ethnicities. As is the case with my non-Black friends, my African-American female friends’ personal lives are varied in scope as some are married, dating, single, or divorced.
The New York Times recently published an article titled “1.5 Million Missing Black Men.” The article states approximately 1.5 million Black men are missing from everyday life. For example, New York has 120,000 Black men between the ages of 25 – 54 missing. Chicago has 45,000 men of the same demographic missing, more than 30,000 are missing in Philadelphia and across the south “from North Charleston, S.C. through Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and up into Ferguson, Mo. hundreds of thousands more are missing.
So where are these missing Black men? Does Boko Haram have them? Have they joined ISIS? Or are they merely in hiding?
Well, according to the Times article, none of the aforementioned are the case. In fact, the 1.5 million missing Black men actually experienced early deaths or are behind bars.
In contrast, Black women in that same 25 – 54 age group outnumber their male counterparts by 1.5 million. And for every 100 Black women who are not incarcerated or dead, there are 83 Black men.
I shared the statistics with my single and divorced friends, and their responses were all similar: “Duh,” or “I am not surprised.”
One of my single friends who resides in a small Mississippi town said, “I thought the disparities would be even larger…like closer to 50 percent.” She concluded by saying, “at least that’s how it feels anyway – that single women outnumber eligible Black men by at least 50 percent.”
If you factor in Black men who may venture outside of their committed relationships and those who are gay, my Mississippi friend may actually have a valid point.
Here are some more startling facts to consider:
- One in every six Black men who should be between 25 – 54 years are among the “missing.”
- The largest proportions of missing Black men are in southern states with the Midwest and large Northeastern cities following. The smallest gaps are on the west coast.
- While homicides are the leading cause of death for young Black males, Black men in general also experience heart disease, respiratory disease and accidents more than their non-Black counterparts.
- Although the number of homicides and HIV-related deaths for Black males has declined in recent years, those that escape death often find themselves incarcerated.
- One in 60 Black men between the ages of 25 – 54 are incarcerated. For incarcerated Black women in the same age range the gap is larger at 1 in 200.
- Nationwide, there are more Black “missing” men “than there are African- American men residing in New York City – or more than in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, Washington and Boston combined.”
Of course this “missing men” phenomenon has adverse effects on women and the communities they leave behind. Examples include an increase in Black single mothers, an increased number of Black women who may remain single and without children, reduced-income households, children being raised without fathers, and fewer Black male mentors.
“Some people think single Black women are just too picky or are deranged or crazy, when in actuality, there really are just slim pickings,” said an unmarried friend of mine in Texas. “As we get older and still haven’t found a suitable match, I think the pressure intensifies because then we are faced with the realization that we may have to live our lives possibly alone forever. It is an unfortunate reality many Black women will have to endure.”
Another unfortunate reality is that my Texas friend is correct. According to data, the missing men epidemic will not disappear anytime soon as Black males continue to be killed (as of late, most notably by police officers) as well as disproportionately sentenced for crimes. Only after we address the untimely deaths of Black men as well as the financially-beneficial business America’s prisons have become will we be able to decrease the number of Black men who go missing.
Then and only then will we truly be able to improve the social ills that plague our community.
