Growing up, “single mothers” or “baby mamas” were a norm in my community. I grew up on the south side of Chicago in a predominantly Black neighborhood. I went to a predominately Black school. My friend circle was predominantly Black.

I’d say about 95% of my friends had one parent in the home. That one parent was more often than not — a single mother. I myself was a child born out of wedlock. Eventually I ended up growing up and also having my own children out of wedlock.

I didn’t see anything wrong with it because I thought “it was the norm”.

Black families have the HIGHEST single parent rate in the country. Over 54% of our households are with single parents. This is a problem everyone needs to be alarmed about and paying attention to.

Our children are suffering because of this and it’s already been passed down to generations. Let’s create MORE conversations on healing the Black family.