From my own tiny viewpoint, it seems to me that the Gender Wars between BM & BW, and how it relates to IR, is the most popular conversation in the Black Community right now.
On every predominately Black message board, chat, blog whatever that I visit, I find the same topic gets the most attention. So too, does the topic come up in almost every casual conversation where the majority of people involved are African American.
White Women in IR don't have the same situation. We are not at the center of attention within our race. We don't have to think about it as much, because no one else is.
It's natural that the things that Black people are talking about everywhere would be reflected in the conversations amongst Black Men here. They don't leave their Blackness when they date White Women, they don't loose those conversations either.
I do find it interesting, tho. Everywhere else that this gets discussed, you may see Black Men say terrible things about Black Women. Anything in the book can be fair game, and the Man is not shushed or sent away... so long as all parties are aware that he's going home to a Black Woman. But a Black Man dating a White Woman will be thrown out of the same conversation, and shunned by his peers -- male and female -- in many circumstances.
By contrast, here, all the Black Men are doing the worst thing imaginable everywhere else, but they are self-policing, and still being criticized, for doing what other Black Men generally are able to do without condemenation.
One thing I know for certain: the problems within the "Black Family" that so hold the attention of the Black Community are the fault of White People. And specifically, in some cases, the fault of White Women. White people created the Welfare rules, White Women pushed Black Women out of the suffragette movement, White people placed the image insecurity in the Black Community, White people emasculated Black Men for generations and masculinized Black Women for generations. Almost None of that was done by White people in our generation, or maybe even most of our parents' generation, but the shit that was done had deep and lasting impact, and it came from our side. If the blowback from that means that Black Men need to vent to each other about Black Women now and then, I am not going to tell them to stop. If it bores us as White Women, who do not have to live with it every day, that's a small price to pay compared to, you know, living with it every day.
And lastly: if Black Men trust you enough to vent like this in front of you, they are paying you a compliment. They trust you enough not to worry that you're going to pop off and say something racist. They feel comfortable enough to share their problems in front of you, despite the fact that it makes them vulnerable by opening themselves to the most time-worn attacks used on Black Men -- they have mental issues, they have problems with their mothers, they hate themselves, etc etc. If a Black Man is trusting you as a White Woman to hear this? That's not something every Black Man lets just any White person hear.