"All The Blacks Are Men."

TAPPED all-star Shani Hilton makes a really important point responding to my post on black folks and unemployment:

Unfortunately, neither Adam nor Ta-Nehisi notice something that was glaringly obvious to me on my first reading of the piece: not a single black woman was quoted in it. Luo may have interviewed black women, but he certainly didn’t give them a voice in a story about black — not just black male — professionals.

And while Ta-Nehisi’s post is a great exploration how blacks navigate racism and success, even he only refers to black men — Obama, Deval Patrick, Cory Booker, Booker T. Washington.

This is not a minor problem.

Black women go to college at higher rates than black men, and 27 percent of black women are employed in managerial positions, while only 19 percent of black men are. I don’t think it’s much of a leap to suggest that there are more black women looking for professional jobs than black men.

Of course, black men have a unique set of challenges. And while black women share a similar experience with them, it surely wouldn’t do to quote women in a story about men. Likewise, quoting a variety of black men doesn’t speak to the experiences of a variety of black people. What about the single mothers? Or young women who are struggling to be taken seriously in the male-dominated corporate arena? I know plenty of black women who would have a lot to say about having a business degree and a ‘black’ name, or being interviewed by someone who’s not just of a different race, but also of a different gender.

Ta-Nehisi Coates responds by acknowledging a "blindspot" here, one that I obviously share.

A related point: A friend of mine in D.C. is always asking where the black women in politics are -- in the sense that, despite the demographic realities Hilton describes above, you rarely see black women rise to the kind of celebrity prominence given to a Deval Patrick or a Cory Booker. This is a question I haven't figured out for myself yet so I don't feel comfortable making an argument -- but I felt like it was worth mentioning here.

-- A. Serwer