Have you ever wondered how many interracial couples there are in America?
Have you considered dating someone outside of your race?
“If you love someone, you should be together no matter what other people think,” said Natishia Stephens, 19, a sophomore pre-law student from Jacksonville. “If you love that person and you’re bold enough to be with that person, than keep on doing what you do.”
According to, a USA Today survey, as many as 57 percent of teenagers have dated someone outside of their race. An additional 30 percent have indicated that they would consider dating outside of their race.
“I think it’s nothing wrong with it,” said Dustin Delain, 18, a freshmen computer engineering student from Miami. “It is not based on skin color; it’s based on the individuality of a person.”
Though the general sentiment of America’s youth favors interracial dating, some students on the Florida A&M University campus are against mixed couples – especially black-white relationships.
“Any type of dating may lead to procreation and if I want to create someone in the likeness of me, I would have to have a mirror image of me and that would be a black woman,” said Demar Jackson, 32, a senior sociology student from Tallahassee.
“As a black man in America, I would not subject myself to so called ‘sleeping with the enemy’ because we were drug over here unwillingly and tormented and put through years of slavery and still treated unjustly. That’s like asking a Jewish person would they date a German after the Holocaust,” Jackson added.
Ashley Nelson shared similar sentiments.
“I understand that all God’s people are created equal, but something just says no,” said Nelson, 18, a freshmen pharmacy major from Port St. Lucie. “I’m against blacks and whites dating. We’ve been enslaved for so long and your supposed to keep your history with you, and for us to come out of that and interact that way is not right.”
Then there are students who feel that interracial dating is acceptable only if a person’s intentions are moral.
“I’m not against it if it’s for love and it’s genuine,” said Renecia Daughrity, 20, a junior business administration student from St. Augustine. “If it’s for racial reasons such as a prize and people are trying to show off, than I am against it.”
Among the many who have staunch opinions about the issue, there are some who are pretty neutral on the subject matter. “I don’t disagree with interracial dating,” said Marlinda Long, 18, a freshmen pharmacy student from Bloomfield Hills, Mich. “But I just don’t see the benefit of dating outside of your race.”
Estimates show that over 70 percent of blacks are descendents of white and black couplings. Prominent black leaders such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Booker T. Washington, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Frederick Douglass were of mixed ancestry.
According to, http://soc.enotes.com, opponents of interracial dating contend that those who date or marry outside of their race are betraying their families and abandoning their cultural heritage. Conservative whites believe that the rise of interracial births, combined with increased immigration, will make white people a minority by the middle of the twenty-first century.
Proponents of interracial dating feel that it is a step toward eliminating racial hatred. And even though many Americans are in concurrence with interracial dating, many more are still not ready to cross the color line.
Contact Brent Hatchett at famuanlifestyles@hotmail.com