In this day and age, we’ve seen families in every shape, form or fashion. According to a University of Michigan Institute for Social Research study, one in five women have children with multiple birth fathers. In the case of African-American women the number jumps dramatically to 59 percent. With such high numbers, some Black women are wondering if they’ll once again be left holding the racial responsibility bag.

It seems that Black women just came through another grueling round of America’s favorite game, “What’s Wrong With Black Women?” after CNN and MSNBC dedicated whole articles to the “dilemma” of the successful, unmarried African-American woman. ABC even dedicated an entire episode of “Nightline” to our seemingly pitiful plight. It made for good television, the stuff that TV execs dream of.

We’ve seen the statistics on the lack of available, marriageable Black men. We’ve heard the myriad of reasons from both sides of the equation. And time and time again the black comes to rest at the feet of one group — black women, because according to history — something must be wrong with us. There’s just something wrong with the mothers of the human race, women who ruled kingdoms and raised nation. There has to be some sort of deficiency in women that bore the sexual, psychological and emotional scars of slavery and continue to bear the brunt of every hurtful negative stereotype flung in our direction.

Yes, the numbers don’t lie, there is a pervasive trend of single parent homes happening in the Black community. There are a number of contributing factors to the situation. As the conversation about these latest findings begins, we can only hope the vicious cycle of blame can be brought to an end and that we aren’t held in the sway of yet another self-proclaimed relationship guru claiming to have to answer to all the communities problems. If we’re really serious about tackling this disturbing trend, we need solid answers, not talking heads.

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