This past Thursday, the sorority Lambda Tau Omega hosted an event called “Is Marriage for White People”, an examination of a book of the same name about the effects and causes of the African American decline in marriage. Written by Ralph Richard Banks, a professor at Stanford Law School, the book aims to trace the reasons behind the decrease in the amount of African American marriages, and the effects that has on society.

He lists several reasons for the decline, such as the effects of slavery, the lack of eligible men, the welfare system, the increased availability of divorce, the de-stigmatization of children born out of wedlock, and the change in the reasons behind marriage.

Out of a group of 100 black men and 100 black women, 10 women and 30 men marry outside their ethnic group. This becomes an even greater divide when one considers the fact that there are 1.8 million more black women than black men. This shows that black men are less inclined to marry black women, and this has led to many black women feeling desperate, and resorting to “man-sharing,” which negates the ability for marriage.