Huh?

She ain't dating no white man

A new kind of cross-racial dating

The ethnic provincials among us might be disturbed to see a growing number of black women dating white men. One sees them at sporting events, at museums, at movie houses, restaurants and walking along seemingly swept up in the luminous net of romance.

Lord, Lord, Lord: the black woman and the white man.

Some will bitterly recall that terrorist period in Southern history when white men had all the money, all the power and could join a mob intent on killing a Negro for the forbidden act of "recklessly eyeballing" a white woman.

Now, as the song goes, things ain't what they used to be.

For a number of decades, black men in the urban North have crossed the romantic color line for a variety of reasons. Yet black women have almost always remained inside of the group.

.........................

That is a big change. In the past, it was not uncommon for black men to explain their white lovers by claiming they could not find black women sufficiently sophisticated to "understand" them. Now the black goose is catching up to the ebony gander.

I am not opposed to interracial relationships or marriages. What bothers me is that we have a tragic set of circumstances imposed by violent environments, poor attitudes toward education and perhaps the worst problem of all: a lack of intellectual engagement and a fear of doctors.

These problems are far from intractable. But the time for new strategies and new attitudes is not tomorrow; it is right now.

Oh bullshit. What the fuck do doctors have to do with "intellectual engagement" much less dating.

Crouch can't talk about white women because he'd piss off most of his friends. But he sure as shit doesn't like the idea of black women with white men. I mean, come on. He's hiding behind dogma to blunt the fact that he'd like to say the following:

"How could black women betray the race like that. They always were after our women anyway, raping them up, and selling their babies. Even after slavery, they were after our women, but only in the dark."

Crouch ties this to a "man shortage" caused by jail and a fear of doctors. Of course, blacks don't live significantly shorter lives than whites, the increased death rate is due to higher rates of infant mortality. And the fact that more black women go to college than black men hasn't been a problem in the past.

His own bigotry and excuse making blinds him to the obvious:

People marry their peers, whether intellectually or socially. While it might be nice to date a garbage man, most college educated women want someone who has a similar education. As more blacks enter the middle class and go to integrated universities, they are going to date and marry their peers, regardless of color. A Harvard grad is a Harvard grad regardless of his color. Whites date Asians, blacks date whites, it's all very common. What they don't do is marry people who don't have similar jobs or a similar background. Color is far less of a factor than education. I haven't dated anyone who didn't go to college, and most have had masters degrees. It is unlikely that most people do either.

It's perfectly fine to drool over Rosario Dawson or Lucy Liu. It would not be so fine if you brought home the cleaning lady from Puebla. People would question your judgment unless she was holding a degree somewhere.

It may be fun to date a stripper, but most of them say that they need the money for college for a reason. If they say they just like the money, lawyers will shy away from them. Education gives them the potential to find a better mate.

Race is fading away in discussions of sexual relationships. But class and education is not. In fact, they are growing in importance. As colleges become more integrated, interracial marriage is increasingly common, since people will meet and form bonds in college, at work, and within their social circle. Where in many cases, race is not a factor, but education is. How many people have friends with significantly different educations than they do, that they did not grow up with?

By concentrating on race and not education and class, one would be surprised by the increasing numbers of white men with black women. But if you consider that they share the same interests and travel in the same social circles, it would come as no surprise as all.

posted by Steve @ 1:10:00 AM