Black Women Dating White Men in the Media; Commercials, Music Videos, Etc

Hey at least I'm honest you guys are a sucker for this topic and stop through every time. I'm not sure what I can really add to the discussion that I have not covered before but it's a slow day so why not. Do you honestly want to hear about that sinkhole in Guatemala City that was an act of God what type of analysis do you really want? But seriously though what do you guys think of the Black Women, White Men interracial relationships depicted on television commercials and music videos such as that for Unthinkable by Alicia Keys, and many others from up and coming soul singers? I think it's sort of cute. On "Unthinkable", the brother's famous last words are "you're my sister ... what I'm not good enough for you". That pretty much sums up what happens when physical altercations occur because of interracial relationships. That man feels that the women of his race are his own property, and do not respect them as such.

Rewind the tape nineteen years and Spike Lee shows us the same in reverse on "Jungle Fever". Italian lady wants to date a Black Man, everyone finds out, and her father tries to beat her within a few breaths of her own death. Personally I don't think that violence is the answer, in fact I think this may be the perfect opportunity for Black Men and Black Women to open up the dialog and begin talking about what they love and hate about relationships with other people of the same race.

Look at it this way; many times these were women you guys were not thinking about dating, in the least. But a lot of these women were trying to be loyal to the race or they wanted a Black Man like a lot of women in general do, and you may or may not have dated them back in the day. The relationships did not work out; maybe you wanted Shaquisha, maybe you two didn't see eye to eye it could have been anything. You don't see her for a while so you don't think anything of it. The next thing you know she is with a White guy and you're not sure what hit you.

The media is a bit late on this issue. First time I saw a Black girl with a White guy was back in 1983. No seriously the first time I saw it of late was back in 2002. People who are interested in having interracial relationships or already have tend to meet each other. It was interesting, I didn't want to look but I was intrigued. They seemed so free with their affection, and really looked like they were enjoying each other's company. I see Black Women with Black Men all of the time, but you can tell they've been together for a while. They may be affectionate with each other, or they may not, just like any other couple.

Perhaps I wanted to see what I saw because I hadn't seen an interracial couple where it was a Black Woman as opposed to a Black Man in quite some time. I had almost forgotten that those type of interracial relationships exist; for years it was always a Black Man with a White Women, and to be totally honest I rarely see those type of relationships anymore. I saw a few more after that, but then it had died down again, like those type of relationships just did not exist, and then Something New came out.

To be totally honest a lot of what you see with interracial relationships amuse me. The girl in Tyler Perry's movie had it right; this was a successful White Man that you normally would not expect to be a Black Woman at all. He treated her far worse than her own husband ever did, if her husband mistreated her at all, and I don't blame her husband for blowing up the way that he did but at least she was successful in showing some of the contradictions about interracial relationships. Black Men and Black Women will date someone that is far worse off economically and has even less to stimulate us with intellectually than we ever be willing to deal with if that person was of our own race. We tend to disrespect ourselves when it comes to interracial relationships.

Black Women with long laundry lists, such as Chili, date White Men that may not be as successful as the brothers they like to date. I have to wonder just how many Blacks that look like regular every day people that have wealth that they do not flaunt get passed up because they do not have swagger the players do. Take myself for instance, I would rather wear something that was expensive that did no look like much, but was of good quality, than to flaunt something flashy that was a piece of junk. If I had it to ride in expensive cars I would ride clean, with no rims, nothing, I would not even take out the stereo. I would like in a house that looked like junk on the outside but was clean and immaculate on the inside. A lot of people would just pass me up thinking that there wasn't much going on.

On the other hand, I hate materialistic women. It gets old after a while, and I am not sure why brothers fight over these women and kill each other over them. Nine times out of ten these women do not have anything interesting to talk about and are not about anything but the money. Some of them get out of the neighborhood and go to college and get a good job but they are just as materialistic as they were when they went in. The way that I look at it, anyone who wants money bad enough can get it for themselves, that has never impressed me. In fact I am more impressed by someone who can compel someone who was minding their own business and did not believe in themselves to make more money than they have than someone who just spends their money on themselves. All these women can talk about is their degrees and their accomplishments; the result of applying the administrative skills they honed on their job towards their own business. That is cool and all and I like to see the success that people have but that does not always translate into a romantic relationship.

The media is running out of ideas and desperately wants to be interesting again, and I get it. The climate had to change for people to be able to accept the idea of a Black Woman and a White Man together. It worked on a show like The Jeffersons, but failed to work for many years after that. Then again a lot of things worked on The Jeffersons because of the humor. Towards the end of the eighties they tried to put a Black Man and White Woman on a show together and create a compelling family drama but it was cancelled in the first season. I can't even remember the name of that show I believe it was on ABC. "Generations" tried to showcase interracial relationships as well in an all Black soap opera, but that show did not go far. Even ABC got in on the act with the relationship between Cliff and Angie on All My Children; soap operas tend to be far ahead of their time in comparison to the rest of television.

It will be interesting to see how chic Black Women/White Men interracial relationships become. It seems to be the new norm, and I would also like to see what happens five years from now, when every Black Woman who wanted to try this out probably already would have by that point. I'm not sure if I feel that "you are my sister", or if a lot of Black Women are going through that or not but I know that I am good enough; I have been, and if I were to be alone again I would be in the future.