Whose Got The Fever?

".....and when he get on, he leave your ass for a white girl"

Or Armenian, Hispanic, Asian or any ethnic background other than Black. Why is there a percentage of Black men who exclusively date outside of their race? What causes a Black man to distance himself from a Black woman if he was born of one? When did it become the "in-thing" to do?

There are many possible answers to those questions. Black men in America have been under fire by our female counterparts a lot more recently. Athletes, entertainers, and public figures that publicly appear with other ethnicities draped on their arms are merely setting themselves up to be ridiculed.

"Oh no he didn't come in here with her...He could have found a sister to marry...Why don't I ever see him with a Black woman?"

While the numbers of interracial marriages have increased over the years, interracial relationships in America are nothing new. They are more visual now than ever. Digital media has made the world smaller. 30 years ago, a red carpet event was covered by a few news outlets, SLR cameras, and the local newspaper reporters with their tape recorders. Now there are live feeds on major cable networks, Twitter, Facebook, and personal bloggers just to scratch the surface. If you are a brother interested in a White woman, you can no longer hide under the cloak of technological blunders. There is a camera on you and your choice of women at all times. Black women will know your past, as it relates to who you have been seen with.

You have the brother that just refuses to date the Black woman. We all know this guy. He would rather date the White woman that appears to be "trashy" and may be deemed physically unattractive by most, than to date a decent looking Black woman. He wont even look in the general direction of a sister. What causes him to be this way? A friend of mine I grew up with could be considered "that brother." He was attracted to Black women. They weren't necessarily attracted to him though and let him know it. I understand why he doesn't hold them in a certain place in his heart. While this may not be the reason for every brother that refuses, it was most certainly a very big contributing factor in what he found to be "his type." A lot of who you become, are from major and minor experiences in your youth. Good and bad.

When you think about world cultures, there are several that have beliefs with strict written regulations on religion and race. You are required to be with your own. If not, you risk persecution from your people or excommunication from a religious sect. We as Americans often frown upon this practice and then practice these principles with our unwritten regulations.

I personally have dated outside my race on more than a few occasions and can truly say that I felt fine doing so, but I wasn't always as open to the notion. In high-school, a very beautiful Asian girl approached me every day for a week to let me know she was interested...and what did I do? Brush it off. I was young(stupid) and a totally different person then. Now I'm the type of person that thinks it doesn't matter as long as you find someone you can enjoy in a relationship. The battle is just finding someone who loves you for you. I don't think you should close yourself off to a certain race but lets be honest....people do it all the time. Is it wrong? Questionable....but there are White women who refuse to date White men, just as there are Black women who refuse to date Black men.

We as Black men aren't in an uproar about Black women being involved in interracial dating. We don't say to ourselves or to friends, I wish she was dating a brother. Halle Berry, the object of a very high percentage of Black men fantasies, had a baby by a White man...there is no uproar about their relationship. In fact, she had a song named after her! Let Denzel Washington get a divorce and re-marry to someone like Scarlett Johansson - Black women will be burning his DVD's in the streets from L.A. to Brooklyn. There is a double-standard present that most Black women will not admit to. They wish he wasn't with the White girl, but they don't want to see him with the Asian girl either.

What does race ultimately mean now? By 2050, America is projected to become a country where minorities will make up the majority. Barack Obama is considered a Black man but he is the child of an interracial relationship. I'm very proud of my ethnic background and will raise my children with a deep understanding of Black history as it relates to social awareness, but we are looming closer to a nation where class could start to separate people more. We must understand as a people, love conquers all.