OLLA MOKHTAR
campus editor
olla.mokhtar@my.tccd.edu
Across cultures, the idea of marrying and courting within your race is important for the ‘success’ and preservation of races. I couldn’t disagree more.
Racial preferences are, to put lightly, absurd. The idea that a demographic is better off with their ‘own people’ is simply not true. Societies naturally collide, and some relationships are bound to happen.
For instance, in my Sudanese culture we share a lot of food with Arab culture like ‘molokhiya’ which is a plant-based stew. We also intermarry and these marriages are debatably the reason we also speak Arabic.
Even with some interracial relationships, especially marriages, there is an effort by families of both parties to prevent it to happen but they only sometimes succeed.
Am I a hopeless romantic? Yes, not only have I started reading romance books at the age of 10, I have also over-romanticized every crush I’ve ever had since my birthday despite this I know true love prevails a good amount of the time.
A perfect example of this is the famous Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case of the 60s. This seems like a long time ago, considering this happened over 60 years ago, but it is still very important.
It was simple, they loved and fought for each other, and even the law couldn’t separate them. So why do some people of today’s age believe that others can’t do the same?
Of course, I would not convey this opinion of mine without mentioning that some couples can’t marry because harmful things like emotional and physical abuse may happen. This is totally valid, but wrong as a society to do.
Again, hopeless romantic since the age of ten here, how exactly is it that race and personality types are synonymous?
Trick question – they’re not.
A preference would be that a person is not attracted to people who have short hair, not an entire demographic. Any person of any race can have long hair regardless of hair type. Similarly, a person can be attracted to people that are introverted rather than extroverted. Again, every race has their fair share of extroverts, introverts and ambiverts.
The reason why some people say this is because they associate certain traits to certain races and assume everyone behaves that way. This is what you call a stereotype, which harms many people especially emotionally when it comes to public spaces.
For instance, in my predominantly white high school, my calm demeanor was puzzling to some simply because I did not fit the very untrue stereotype that Black women are aggressive and rude. I was an anomaly to them as a classmate, so I can imagine they thought it was an anomaly to view me romantically because we were not of the same race.
Racial preferences are rooted in assumptions, stereotypes and bigotry. And to be honest I am tired of only talking about them. Society’s next thought should be acting towards making people feel safe if they happen to encounter a problem with their family members or society. The question is who’s brave enough to do something about it.
