Black Marriage Day: A showcase for African-American love, commitment
OPINION - With the statistics of Black marriage always being touted as so dismal, and the real numbers of Black children who don't grow up in a two-parent household being so high, we wanted to shine a light on the great things about our love...
When we decided to write our book Perfect Combination: Seven Key Ingredients to Happily Living and Loving Together, the first thing we thought was “are we willing to be this public as an example of love?” We talked, and realized that the answer for us was a resounding YES!
With the statistics of Black marriage always being touted as so dismal, and the real numbers of Black children who don’t grow up in a two-parent household being so high, we wanted to shine a light on the great things about our love. We also wanted to shine a light on, and encourage other couples to celebrate, Black Marriage Day, which was founded ten years ago by the Wedded Bliss Foundation to celebrate marriage in the Black community.
Our love is not just about The Lambs. It’s about our community, our families, and our daughter—who deserves not only to grow up in a world where she sees her Mommy and Daddy loving each other, but in a world where she will use our love and the beautiful example of Black Marriage Day to realize that she deserves love and nothing less. Our love will lead her to the real and wonderful conclusion that with love comes marriage—something real and relevant—that will hopefully be a part of the wonderful life we dream for her.
That’s why we wanted to tell our story of working together, loving together, living together and building together. Sometimes we, as people, can be so vehement about individual achievements that all we think about is the “Me” of life, and almost forget the power and purpose of being able to say and share “We.” We are a fun-loving couple who have been able to help make each other’s dreams come true. We are a child-raising couple who are able to see the perfect combination of ourselves in the smiling eyes of our daughter Kaira. We are a life-struggling couple, who deal with bills and arguments and conflict, but we do it together, as husband and wife, and we love that we have each other’s backs and take peace in knowing we have each other’s support.
The real reason that we wanted to speak about the power of black marriage and Black Marriage Day is because we want to be able to say proudly to the world, and to every little black boy and girl, that you deserve love at this level of commitment; when you do, it is so beautiful knowing that there is someone on earth who makes a vow to love you through sickness and health, through life’s ups and downs, and with whom you can hopefully buy a home, make a family and dream dreams. That’s what we did, and we are so blessed that Black Marriage isn’t a dream for us. It’s a beautiful daily reality.
Sunday March 25 is Black Marriage Day, and all across the country amazing events will be held to celebrate marriage in the Black community; we want to encourage couples to celebrate their love.
This May, we will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary. We have spent the last nine of those years working together, twenty-four seven, three sixty-five, building our business and producing our off-Broadway play, Platanos Y Collard Greens, together. During that time, countless couples have asked to know our secret. In celebration of our happiness and our tenth anniversary, we have decided to share our 7 key ingredients to happily living and loving together. Perfect Combination is our memoir and manual for love, and our hope for you to discover your own recipe for happiness in a joyful, loving relationship. Happy Black Marriage Day.
Jamillah & David Lamb Jamillah and David Lamb, are the husband and wife team and producers of the hit play Platanos Y Collard Greens. For information about their work and Perfect Combination visit www.acoupleoflambs.com.
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