Fyahman, the argument you all are trying to make is more about the ills in the entire system and not the fault of black women. We cannot expect a black woman who is being beaten to avoid the courts and take the beatings simply because she fears the courts would be biased against the male.

The fact that the courts pay particular attention to women abuses is because it affects women across the board. The disadvantages the black males see in the court system are exactly that, the fault of the system with its unaddressed biases and racism.

Traditionally black females, and more so, light-skinned black females were preferred by whites for domestic services and sex (most light-skinned blacks were as a result of white males ‘raping’ blacker females). They had more males in the fields, and it is the males who traditionally went out to labour to bring money home to support the family. That breadwinner role was not the domain of females. The workplace, outside of domestic help, was traditionally dominated by males. It is because of this the courts placed the weight of children maintenance on males. In many cases today females are still being paid less than males when employed in similar fields.

If males feel disempowered because more females are earning their way today, and are not dependant on males for food etc., then it is a male self-esteem problem, and certainly not the fault of the black woman.

I think the arguments are not well founded, and the disparities in the system do not mean that Black women are more responsible than anyone else. Of course it is not the dark-skinned Black woman or the dark-skinned fat woman who is getting the majority of these new economic breaks, which is still more about material gains for the white male elite.

I find it hard to generalize about black women without examining colorism. Many light-skinned black females and males get access to more economic opportunities, and when they generalize about black improvement, quite often people do not take into consideration what is going on among dark-skinned-kinky-hair-broad-nose Blacks. It is almost as if what is done by light-skinned blacks is some real reflection on what is taking place with darker skinned blacks. Usually darker skinned blacks are left to watch these fake straight-hair mixed blacks carrying on in the media like if the real problems are a thing of the past.