DC Group: Married Couples, Be Poster Children for Black Love

By: Jackie Jones

We’ve all heard it: In-law jokes, stories from friends and family about all the bad stuff their husbands/wives do and little or none of the good.

It’s enough to make you wonder why people ever get married.

A Washington, D.C.-based group is aiming to change all that by highlighting successful marriages, encouraging people to celebrate the good in their relationships and be shining examples, especially in public, to others.

“The humorous side of this, we say, is married couples in the African-American community give marriage a bad name. We are asking that they become more open and responsive to the good times in their relationships,” said Diane Sims-Moore, executive director of the D.C. Healthy Marriage & Relationship Coalition-Family First D.C..

On Sunday, the coalition, which provides a number of programs and events designed to promote, strengthen and restore healthy marriages and relationships, celebrated the third anniversary of Black Marriage Day by inducting four long-married couples into its Marriage Hall of Fame.

Sims-Moore told BlackAmericaWeb.com that coalition founder Nisa Muhammad created the event to inspire other couples and to help young black people expose them to people who prove that marriage is a healthy, viable option.

The coalition also sponsors programs on developing healthy relationships of all kinds, including a fatherhood initiative.

Sunday’s event at Greater Mt. Calvary Church in Northeast Washington was aimed at encouraging people to take advantage of the coalition’s tools and resources that will, among other things, show couples how to disagree in a healthy way, find professional therapy if needed and get premarital counseling.

“Marriage is a part of life that is like icing on a cake that has already been baked,” said the Rev. Charlette Manning, PhD, who consults with the coalition to provide premarital counseling for couples and works with teenagers and young adults to encourage them to look at their lives in healthier ways.

The foundation for a healthy marriage, however, is building strong relationships between fathers and daughters and mothers and sons, Manning said.

DC Group: Married Couples, Be Poster Children for Black Love....