I recently noted an interesting (and somewhat depressing) article about the extent to which the U.S. is still a profoundly segregated society.
This morning the BBC World Service ran an Assignment piece from the United States, about the difficulty many graduate African-American women were having in finding spouses. Black men, that is. It was assumed, indeed stated by several of the interviewees without a blush (...), that what they were looking for was "an educated Black man".
Surely this is outright racist. Of the sort, however, that is totally accepted and not even noted by interviewers.
(Yet another) letter to the Beebs:
Nina Robinson in Assignment looks at the issues facing college-educated African-American women seeking spouses. It was always taken as read throughout that they would be looking to marry black men. This was said specifically by various of the interviewees.
One can understand they may have a preference for partners in life delicately described as of the same “socio-economic background”, ie “educated Black men”.
But isn’t this just a teensy bit racist? I mean, it’s actually outrightly so. If a white graduate were to say “I have trouble finding a white spouse”, they would surely be excoriated.
Yet Robinson did not even make note of this blatant racism, let alone ask about it, or query it, or explore it in any way. America is still profoundly segregated, and in the long term surely cross-racial marriage is one of the best ways to get past that.
