The Washington Post series on Black men continues. Friday's entry combined an inspirational story about two high school students inspiring others with the standard run-down of educational statistics. Today they feature a nightmare no Black man in America feels totally free of.

But they have transcripts of online chats about the various articles that are worth skimming .

Observations from a Latina/Black woman: I am from a Spanish-speaking Caribbean island...in my case, that means I am both black and Latina. So, I feel that I have a special insight in this topic. This is because I have noticed again and again that when African-American men learn that I am not just black, but also speak Spanish and come from a different culture their interest in me increases exponentially. I just feel that African-American men feel like they have a "prize" in their hands if they are not dating a plain jane African-American woman, but instead someone exotic that somehow elevates their status.

I have noticed that for them it's important to brag they are not just with a black woman, but also a Latina from the Caribbean AND who speaks Spanish...they are besides themselves!!!

Kellina Craig-Henderson: Very interesting what you refer to is the extent to which being "Black" in the US is undervalued, and even denigrated. One young man I interviewed for the book talked about the way that most of friends who were Black all seemed to feel obligated to qualify their ethnicity and racial status by pointing to ways that they were "mixed." There is something very perverse about a society that leads its people to feel bad about themselves so much so that it becomes important to be something other than who they may really be. So, I would agree, that for some Black men with "mixed" women there is a certain delight in vicariously being something other than just an African American

Is it really that bad, so totally on the surface? Being old, I don't know the current state of the bachelor herd.