Hollywood: You will be a Single, Black Mother!

Halle Berry and Nia Long are just two of the single, black mothers I know.  There's also my mother, aunt, cousin, sister and so on and so on.  I guess the overwhelming question is whether black parenting will  forever be a two-person job.  My answer to this is that I don't think so.

Things are changing.  I don't know if its because I am married with children, but I know more married couples raising kids than I've ever known. When I go to my son's school, I see more fathers visiting the school, going to parent-teacher conference and attending games.  Even on Facebook, which is usually a cesspool of buffoonery, I see father's posting pics of them with their kids and even bragging about being a good dad.  Now I could be looking at the glass half full, but I think this is a narrative that we all just continue to play over and over until we believe it.  We refuse to see the countless Black men who are doing a good job, and therefore hone in on the broken marriages and soured relationships that have in many ways become the norm.

From fathers and mothers deciding to raise their children together, but romantically separate to the mom, dad duos with their back against the wall trying to keep their families under one roof, Black women are doing it all.  Let's not let one definition of Black family define all of us.  Let us give single mothers the nurturing they need for a successful parenting experience, while still creating a positive narrative within our families of Black couples who can and are making their families work.