Mark Black Marriage Day in Canada too
By Thandiwe Vela
Many young women dream of getting married as they grow up - picture their wedding dress, their bridesmaids' much uglier dresses and sometimes even the person that will be standing at that alter.
Not me.
No siree! I'd rather concentrate on graduating and launching my career instead of focusing on something that's not likely to happen. Any more school and too much success will just be another nail in the coffin because apparently, it's hard to get married when you're female, talented and black.
Dating? Easy. Common law, maybe. Baby father? At my service. But finding a husband? Genius level Sudoku hard!
That's why I was pleasantly surprised to hear about Black Marriage Day, marked in the U.S. on the fourth Sunday in March. Imagine, hundreds of events including workshops and black-tie dinners, all in an effort to improve lagging black marriage rates.
I'm all for it but must admit - all this talk of the unlikelihood of blacks getting married has left me with a slight unwanted feeling. And it raises a stark difference between North American culture and that of my native Zimbabwe where men pay to marry black women!
I just might venture back, grab a husband, score a couple dozen cows and groceries for family back home and fatten up my parents' bank accounts with that lobola money.
Or, we could mark Black Marriage Day in Canada too, possibly improving my chances of getting married here.
Thandiwe Vela is a Star radio room reporter, student-athlete and secretary of the Canadian Association of Black Journalists.
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