Interracial Dating In Memphis

[BISHOP]

Originally Posted by starstruck

It's not in your Top 10 so you are opposed to interracial dating/marriage?

TOP 10 Things the "Black community" needs to spend time on.

NO, I"m not oppose to either interracial dating/marriage. Is it a problem or is is something that we just don't like to see? Crime & Poverty are problems.....If Quincy Jones wants to marry another white woman that his business.

[BISHOP]

THE GREATEST CHALLENGES TO AFRICAN AMERICANS IN 2008

Abortion. Gay marriage. Immigration. For years we have debated these issues behind closed doors. Now GOP strategists are selling such subjects to us as the greatest threats to African-Americans, seizing on the conventional wisdom that we are politically liberal yet socially conservative. As 2008 approaches, we asked Black America’s keenest minds to weigh in on the real pressing issues we will need to deal with in the coming year


CORNEL WEST, scholar, intellectual

The criterion has to be this: If we can overcome it, would it qualitatively transform the Black community? Look at these other issues and ask, If there were none of that, would Black people still be poor, still be disrespecting themselves, and still not have quality health care, education, child care or employment? If you stop abortion tomorrow, you still have Black people who are poor. Okay, no more immigration whatsoever. That’s going to affect a certain slice of the job market, but not that many. Let’s ban gay marriage. Is that going to eliminate poverty? So if I had to prioritize what would be the greatest threat, then it’s poverty. FAST FACT: Nearly 25 percent of Blacks live in poverty, as opposed to 8.2 percent of Whites, according to 2006 U.S. Census figures.

DONNA BRAZILE, Democratic strategist, Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute chairwoman

When I was a child, my parents and grandparents drilled into me and my siblings the need to get an education. Here we are in the twenty-first century, and the most appalling thing to me is the conditions and inequities that exist across the board for huge percentages of African-American children—from per-pupil spending to decrepit facilities to lack of access to technology to narrow curriculum offerings. FAST FACT: In school districts serving mostly students of color, states and localities spend on average $908 less per student and $825 less in districts serving poor students compared with what they spend in districts that are wealthy and White, according to the Education Trust’s Funding Gaps 2006 report.

DR. JULIANNE MALVEAUX, president, Bennett College for Women

The greatest threat to African-Americans is economic injustice. We see the disproportionate amount of poverty and unemployment in our community, the way predatory lending has imperiled so many African-American home owners, and the whole issue of inadequate access to higher education. It is an issue that Dr. King highlighted very early on, but what is amazing to me is how, as more African-American people move into the middle class, we seem to be unwilling to address these issues. FAST FACT: African-Americans were more than a third more likely to get a high-priced loan than White borrowers, according to a 2006 Center for Responsible Lending report.

GEOFFREY CANADA, president, Harlem Children’s Zone

The real challenge is around education. We are in a global economy in which African-Americans are increasingly unprepared to compete. The kind of money other countries are spending on their intellectual capital development is significantly greater than what the United States spends on its own. When people aren’t prepared to increase their skills to be able to compete on a higher level, they end up living on the margins of society where there’s lots of crime and violence. FAST FACT: The nationwide college graduation rate for Black students is 42 percent, as opposed to 62 percent for White students, according to statistics from The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education


Now, if these folks are suppose to be the best and brightest of our community....none, not one list "interracial dating/marriage" as an issue. I like how West put it....(I'll steal his line of thought) If there was no more interracial dating/marriage would that then increase employment in the Black community.....increase the number of Black college graduates.....decrease crime & poverty...would ith even increase marriage amongst Blacks period....

[TUCKER]

Originally Posted by BISHOP

As 2008 approaches, we asked Black America’s keenest minds to weigh in on the real pressing issues we will need to deal with in the coming year

Actually BISHMAN, while these respected scholars, intellectuals and other more astute members of the Black community are seeking positive solutions to Black progress, they're thoughts are devoted to immediate change, or microwave solutions. They're debating immediacy as in "THE COMING YEAR!" For short term solutions, they are certainly right on target......probably! Any solutions derived from these most astute thinkers will serve to be little more than "attempting to catch the pacific in a dixie cup."

Its just my opinion, but as I've stated numerous times the problems in the Black community are of an "EVOLUTIONARY" nature, therefore the solutions must be of an "EVOLUTIONARY" nature. Neither Pearl Jr or myself have been deemed the voice of Black people, but its obvious that interracial dating/marriage removes critical elements from a people who are already a minority and hurting for positive change, correct? Neither of us has suggested that "a person" not follow his heart, for the good of that "person." On the other hand, we both have suggested that the "person" with the "loinal" power to make a difference in "a people," follow his heart with discretion and remember he carries the fate of a people, not just a person in his loins. Again it goes back to EVOLUTION. We seem to forget as a people, we must evolve from the shackles of 3 or 400 yrs of slavery! And just as most of us have come to realize since the chains are more mental than physical now, we've got to evolve "mentally" to achieve true and real progress.

While I personally have nothing but respect for Dr West and some of the other representatives of the Black community, I feel most of them are focusing on short term solutions to long term problems. While many of their proposals, if implemented with expedience, will have an immediate but short impact, the problems plaguing the Black community are the result of a long term process, so someone should be focusing on "long term" solutions!

EVOLUTION (mental/physical) IS A SLOW PROCESS!

Now, if these folks are suppose to be the best and brightest of our community....none, not one list "interracial dating/marriage" as an issue. I like how West put it....(I'll steal his line of thought) If there was no more interracial dating/marriage would that then increase employment in the Black community.....increase the number of Black college graduates.....decrease crime & poverty...would ith even increase marriage amongst Blacks period....

That is because all of them are thinking in the NOW! They're focus is on the urgent need for solutions to our "PRESENT" problems, as if there is no future so those problems need not be addressed. I'm not being critical of that kind of thinking by any means, its normal because we need so much, so soon. But I assure you, the needs of our people today, pale in comparison to the needs our people will face in the future! That is where "EVOLUTIONARY" thought "MUST" come into effect, on all our parts! If not, certainly the "person" will succeed, but the "people" will be no better off than they were 200 yrs ago!

[BISHOP]

I'm just talkin.....

So TUCKER are you saying IF the Black community dealt with some of the immediate issues mentioned above(crime, poverty, education) that even if those areas improved that interracial dating/marriage is something we need to address? IMO(just mine) the #'s of Black men with non-black women isn't enough to trip on. Crime, poverty,educatin IMO are problems whereas interracial dating/marriage are issues that some folks have problems with.

just my 2 cent

[TUCKER]

Originally Posted by BISHOP

So TUCKER are you saying IF the Black community dealt with some of the immediate issues mentioned above(crime, poverty, education) that even if those areas improved that interracial dating/marriage is something we need to address?

I'm not trying to say those issues are more important than the topic of this post, but those are the visible issues and they probably do need the "IMMEDIATE" attention that most of them are getting. Interracial Dating/marrigage, imo, is like termites on a house, or soil erosion, or the "GREEN HOUSE EFFECT." I don't mean that in the derogatory way it might sound either. I'm just saying that while other matters, that are more visible, might require "IMMEDIATE" attention there are major detrimental concerns that will manifest themselves "further on down the line." Lets say for example, you spend a lot of money and time painting a house that is being destroyed, unbeknownst to you, by termites. Or getting a paint job, speakers, new tires, etc for a car with a bad head. Some would consider the immediate solutions a waste of time and money, while others would say "I can keep it fixed until it breaks down."

IMO(just mine) the #'s of Black men with non-black women isn't enough to trip on.

I understand what you're saying here, but consider the fact that our #s are small to begin with, we are still a minority in this country, right? So do we have BMs to spare for jail, gayness, addictions, mental problems, or interracial dating/marriage? I'm trying to simplify a very complex social problem or issue here BISHMAN. Like you, the topic is not #1 on my list of things to do, but it is on the list none the less. I just don't want people to dismiss the subject because it doesn't appear to be urgent. The effects of this particular issue will be felt in the distant future. Let me say again, "EVOLUTION IS A SLOW PROCESS." I think you understand.

[sista]

Originally Posted by BISHOP

TOP 10 Things the "Black community" needs to spend time on.

NO, I"m not oppose to either interracial dating/marriage. Is it a problem or is is something that we just don't like to see? Crime & Poverty are problems.....If Quincy Jones wants to marry another white woman that his business.

i guess that answered starstruck's query....

[cc5k]

Originally Posted by TUCKER

So do we have BMs to spare for jail, gayness, addictions, mental problems, or interracial dating/marriage?

LOL... did I read that right?

I just don't want people to dismiss the subject because it doesn't appear to be urgent. The effects of this particular issue will be felt in the distant future.

I'm dismissing the subject because I don't see a problem with interracial dating, whether it's 2 people doing it or 2 billion people doing it. I'm thinking about your termite analogy, and eventually termites eat through the wood and there's nothing left. Is that what you're afraid of?? ...that one day all the "black people" will be gone and everyone on this planet will have the same skin complexion as Soledad O'Brien from CNN?



....LOL!!

Because, if I'm not mistaken, there are some black folks even today that would question your "blackness". You had the nickname "Red" or something like that as a kid, didn't you?

[sista]

Originally Posted by cc5k

Is that what you're afraid of?? ...that one day all the "black people" will be gone and everyone on this planet will have the same skin complexion as Soledad O'Brien from CNN?

how boring would that be....

but thankfully, it won't happen....

[cc5k]

Originally Posted by sista

how boring would that be....

but thankfully, it won't happen....

Exactly my point... which is why the termite analogy doesn't work for me.

[BISHOP]

I was about to try to break my Mahjong score for the umpteenth time and a sponsor ad pops up "AfroRomance....Love is more than Skin Deep....Interracial Romance"

TUCKER, my bad man it is a big deal. LOL

[KHARMA]

Being a product of interracial parents, when I date, period, am I considered to be dating outside my race? Am I black or am I Hawaiian (Philippino)? Who's the one to determine that?

[BISHOP]

The ad had a white guy leaning over a Black woman as if he was about to kiss her. Why not a Black man and a white woman? hmmmmmmmmm