Tiger Woods, Taye Diggs, Kobe Bryant and Serena Williams are all celebrities dating outside of their race. There is so much commotion nowadays with blacks dating and marrying outside their race.
Of the 1.7 million marriages currently in the U.S., there are only 7 percent of black marriages with another race.
Although the statistics may be low, the response from the public to interracial relationships is even greater.
Recently, baseball star Derek Jeter was the target of hate mail stating that he “stop dating white women or he’ll be shot or set on fire.” Jeter has been romantically involved with many women of ethnic backgrounds like Anna Kournikova and Scarlett Johansson to name a few. Others like Clarence Thomas and Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor have all been targets of hate mail.
I find this incident so frivolous and ignorant. It should not matter whom Jeter or anyone else decides to date.
Everyone rants and raves about getting rid of color lines, segregation and racism, but if we continue to digress by doing silly acts it will never happen. I believe this is a step for us to come together to rid the world of color lines.
I hope people can realize there is more to a person than their skin color. If Jeter or Bryant is happy with whom they are with, nothing else should matter.
I don’t think if I or any other male decides to marry or date a person of another race, we would be disgracing our culture and community. When you choose to be with someone, it should be based on his or her conversation, personality and inner beauty.
It takes a bigger, more mature person to analyze life and see beyond the color barriers, which we all seem to hate when we are the targets of it.
In 2005, the movie “Guess Who,” starring Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher, touched on the issues concerning interracial relationships. It does well in showing the love between two people who love each other, no matter what their race may be.
In the movie, Bernie Mac plays a parent whose daughter brings home a white boy whom she says is her boyfriend. Mac, in the beginning, was not too fond of the issue but eventually became accepting of the relationship.
If only in reality, people could be accepting of differences and interpret them as uniqueness. In Christianity, God created everyone in His likeness, therefore, we need to accept each other.
Dating in the new millennium is different from the 1950s and 60s. Interracial relationships are becoming more common everyday and we all will be living with them. As a people, we need to open up our minds and think outside of the box.
Nyerere Davidson is a third-year public relations student from Milwaukee. He can be reached at nyejournal@hotmail.com.