[TUCKER]

The question was "Can Memphis accept interracial dating?" My response was as follows:

tucker said:

Modern day Memphis is a city that is just as divided today as it ever was. We're a city with an eye on the future and a foot in the past. We celebrate the events of an April and an August day. One is the day Dr King was assassinated and the other is the day the "King," Elvis died. We've managed to not only survive, but prosper in many cases thanks to the guilty consciouses of those determined to prove their not racists.

Now the venue of "Interracial Dating." This has long been a social taboo that has been tactfully avoided since America and the south admitted its part in the atrocities of slavery. At one time, it wasn't unusual to see a white man with a Black woman on the streets of Memphis. In fact it might've been considered quite fashionable. On the other hand to see a Black man with a white woman automatically meant some kind of Jim Crow Law was being broken. The feelings of those respective periods still exist today and those feelings stem from the roots of slavery, and southern slavery in particular.

A white man with a Black woman. "You go girl!" A Black man with a white woman. "WHY?" That is pretty much the attitude in the Black community as I know it in re to "Interracial Dating." "Can Memphis really accept it?" There are some things we aren't given a choice about, an NBA team, pay television in February 2009 and interracial dating are just a few of them. The city and the citizens don't have to like it, but we do have to accept it. There were some who said Memphis would never have a Black Mayor. There are always going to be those who choose to push the limits of social mores'. There are always going to be those who think they're going to compensate for the wrongs of their forefathers by sacrificing themselves. There are always going to be those who think they've got the PRIZE, but don't realize how they're confusing they're present identity and that of their future.
June 12, 2008 2:32 PM