We've had this discussion before, but before the OP was ever around Phillyblog. I think I even started a similar thread, but it wasn't so jaundiced.
The general consensus I took away from it is that there are some within the black community who feel their dating options are limited, because their standards and their self-image and how they see peers around them lead themselves to believe, realistically or not, that there is a dearth of available partners within their own race so consciously or subconsciously, they date out. i.e. "all the good black men are taken" or, "I can't find a black woman over 30 who doesn't already have kids--and I don't want any", etc.
Prejudice sometimes is the precursor to interracial relationships, instead of simply attraction on its own merits.
Realistically speaking though, if you're attracted to someone--you're attracted. If the attraction is real, you ignore a lot of things, like employment status, race, etc.
Demographically in the U.S., the culture group that intermarries the most happens to be Hispanics and Anglo-Whites. Intermarrying between these groups is the norm in places like California and Texas where the Hispanic population is the majority in some areas. In my home city of San Antonio, the Hispanic population is above 65%.
Down there, I never have seen a straight white guy that didn't want to hook up with a hot Latina. Same probably goes up here, too.
What does that do to peoples' attitudes? Intermarrying is so common down there, nobody even really notices it much anymore except at the actual wedding--because most of the time the white person in the relationship is Protestant while the Hispanic person's family typically Catholic, so there's the debate on whether or not to hire a pastor or a priest to hold the church ceremony. In my family, the Protestants always win... all the Hispanics, if they were devout, turn up in a Methodist church somewhere. There's a couple in my family who just go to the Christian church of closest convenience (less driving time)--hence why they're Catholic instead of Protestant. And in most Texas small towns, the local Catholic church is across the street from whatever Protestant church happens to be. The Catholic church is almost always a Spanish-speaking mass save for a few regions where there's a lot of descendants of Polish and Irish settlers. It's not uncommon being a Protestant living in TX to have to go to the Catholic church to enroll your kids in Sunday School, or show up at one of your friends quincanera parties, or other ceremonies.
Most people ignore the family of their partner when first dating and/or getting into a relationship--and not that long ago this was something that was really important to people. These days though it's easy to move thousands of miles to get away from your partner's crazy family if they're all nuts.
Oh and just to throw a stereotype out there most of you already know... Irish people f**k anybody that pays attention to them
, sober or not, they've been marrying across religion, color and culture lines for as long as they've been around.
So black women, if you're shopping for a white guy--start off with Irish guys.
06-28-2008, 10:48 PM
Racially speaking it means very little. Most of the group whom you refer to more than likely sees themselves a White and are seen as so for the most part. I don't think a "White-Mestizo" marrying an "Anglo" in west Texas is seen in the same way as Black woman or man marrying any Non-Black anywhere in the U.S. We could go on about the whole Hispanic/latino thing but that
. Since I've lived in NY, I've lived in Predominantly Latino and Black N'hoods (Harlem and soon in Brooklyn) for the pass 4 years. There's a lot African Blood in Caribbean Latinos. From my experience that makes for somewhat of a different dynamic. But that's another story for another thread.
