The Spectator, the newspaper of Seattle University
Is interracial dating still controversial?
By Duong Truong
April 15, 2005
“Guess Who” starring Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher has received mixed ratings, which ironically reflects the way Americans have perceived its theme throughout history.
Interracial dating has been a touchy subject for as long as most of us can remember and remains in some families a taboo subject.
Kutcher stars in his usual role as a somewhat dim-witted young man trying to woo the heart of Zoë Saldaña. When the young African-American woman brings him home to dad for approval, comedic situations ensue.
This twist on the old classic “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” starring Sidney Poitier and Spencer Tracy, proves that although interracial dating is a less significant fear and controversy among Americans today, it still remains an issue.
“‘Guess Who’ may just be joking about interracial dating, but I think it shows interracial dating is obviously still an issue prevalent today,” says freshman English major Oriana Kness.
“I don’t see anything wrong with interracial dating personally, and yes I would date someone outside of my own race.”
Six-hundred-twenty never-married sociology undergraduates from East Carolina University participated in a study expressing their attitudes towards interracial dating.
Almost a fourth of the students reported having dated interracially in the past, and almost half expressed an openness to the idea of being in a mixed ethnicity relationship.
African-Americans, cohabitants and those previously in an interracial relationship expressed more openness than others at the idea.
“Our culture is one of the most accepting cultures out there today,” says sophomore communications studies major Vincent Piha.
“I have been in an interracial/intercultural relationship, and I felt really shunned at times by her family. It took them a long time to get used to me, I really had to earn their respect. Although it was hard, our relationship may not have been possible in any other country.”
East Carolina University researchers went on to speculate that blacks were two times more likely than whites to be open to interracial dating.
They concluded that it was easier for the black community to join in the white mainstream than vice-versa. Only 32 percent of those who have never dated outside of their race were open to that kind of relationship.
“I don’t look down upon it,” says freshman business major Travis Samson. “I’m not really attracted to women of different races, but I wouldn’t not date them just because of their race.”
Overall, the study showed that a large majority of college students were willing to be in an interracial relationship, no matter their gender, race or year.
This study concluded that interracial dating is now part of the college experience. Less than five percent of all marriages in the United States are interracial, but with the increased amounts of minorities entering college it has become more common.
The Bob Jones University in South Carolina went under extreme scrutiny in 2000 for its policy forbidding interracial dating. The fundamentalist Christian college was visited by George W. Bush on his 2000 campaign trail, and it brought up allegations that President Bush may in fact be racist for supporting such an institution.
Many conservative politicians have used the Bob Jones University as a stopping place on the campaign trail in the past, and it was only after intense criticism that university president Bob Jones III dropped the rule from the books.
The University, which dubs itself “The World’s Most Unusual University,” has rules on everything from rock music to skirt lengths. Dating is chaperoned, and, until 2000, denied between races. Its fundamentalist views on the Bible and anti-Catholic sentiment extends to a wider world than that of the university.
Bob Jones University implemented its dating policy five decades earlier, as Jones described on “Larry King Live,” “because we were trying... to enforce something, a principle that is much greater than this. We stand against the one world government, against the coming world of the antichrist.”
At a critical point in his interview, Jones stated that “the principle upon which it was based is very important, but the rule is not...we can’t back it up with a verse from the Bible.”
Such a mentality, although no longer prevalent in the United States, is still alive in certain areas. Overall, diversity has been embraced, and many of the younger, college-level generation has promised to change such mentality through future leadership.
“Being an American and experiencing such diversity throughout life helps us become more accepting of other cultures,” Piha says. “In America, anything is possible. If we had been living in a different country, our relationship would not have been accepted.”
