MATURES 12
Mistaking Jungle Fever for Love?
By Andrew C. Ballen
Ink Contributor
Chris and Meredith are both
juniors at UNC.
Both met on one of those rare
occasions when Lenior was so
jam-packed that no tables were
firee. Chris ventured to eat his
lunch at one of the 5-feet tables
near the exits — you know, the
ones strategically designed for
those unlucky souls who are
forced by the crowd to stand up
and eat their Chili-Macs.
Meredith, posed with the same
dilenuna, took a stand at Chris’
Chris and Meredith, both
being great conversationalists,
started a discussion. She was a
music major, he was pre-med. As
their chit-chat segued from John
Coltrane’s “Alabama,” to whether
or not gangsta' rap degraded
women, they found talking to one
another suprisingly enjoyable.
Chris had found Meredith
attractive almost as soon as she
stood before him at the table.
Possessing a devastating smile,
one subtly apparent dimple on
her left cheek and a pleasing fig
ure, Meredith was something to
behold. Likewise Meredith
thought Chris’ sturdy build and
sculpted jaw was worth looking
over more than once. More
importantly, she really enjoyed
the conversation that they were
having.
But let’s press pause on our
literary eight-track for a
moment....This may seem like
just a casual encounter between
two UNC students who seem to
be moving steadily toward mutual
attraction and who knows what
else, but these are not just ordi
nary students.
Something outside the realm
of their individual choice is
serving as a barrier to this
becoming anymore than a random
meeting between two souls who
may have known each other more
intimately had this been another
universe. You see, Chris is black
and Meredith is white. And you
and I know all too well that, in
this society, that makes all the
difference in the world.
But should this fact determine
whether or not any further
advances are made during their
lunch hour tet-a-tet? You make
the call.
If Chris and Meredith are
quick thinkers, they’ll be making
the call too. There’s a lot to
consider: Parents. Friends. The
intuition that “mainstream”
society doesn’t approve. More
parents. More friends. If after
these initial apprehensions are
dealt with, another not-so-chance
to mind their own business, thank
you.
The real dilemma regarding
interracial relationships is a
sociological one. Two people’s
business is rarely just their
business.
No matter how oxnpatible and
otherwise ideal a person may
seem to you, if your friends and
family view that person
negatively there will be tension.
In ibe context of a relationship
that crosses color boundaries, this
tension takes on a whole new
meaning because of the racial
baggage our society insists up>on
Is there anything wrong with this picture? Opinions
vary, depending on who you talk to.
encounter is offered and accepted,
then the most important question
has been answered. Is the prospect
of an interracial relationship
okay?
For Chris and Meredith the
answer is yes. And herein lies the
most ignored truism about the
value of interracial relationships:
If it feels right to the people in
volved, then it is right for them,
and everyone else would do well
carrymg.
Rather than your friends or
family simply disliking your
relationship due to a potentially
changeable flaw, he or she is
marred by an unchangeable
feature that has divided our
society since its inception —his
or her skin is a diferent color.
But is it really skin color that
lends a negative implicatioo to
cross color relationships? A truer
answer may be a cultural one.
When a black man decides to
date a white wcnnan the assump
tion may be that be wants to dis
card his “blackness” for some
thing he perceives as better —
“he’s trying to be white.”
But when we say “blackness”
we aren’t talking about the
melanin contained in his skin.
No, what we mean is that he is
trying to discard the set of cultural
patterns, associations and beliefs,
which are evokative of the term
“black.” Thus, Chris would, in
essence, be rebuffmg his black
ness by dating Meredith, a white
*lf it feels
right to the
people iti'
volvedf then
it is right for
them* Ev
eryone else
would do
well to
mind their
own busi'
ness*
girl.
This assumption that many
people hold is unfortunate in that
it does not allow for instances
where two people, one black and
one white, may have common
interests and cultural identities.
In Jamaica, the birthplace of
reggae and a form of speech that
most Americans find intriguing
(Patwa), most people of our own
age find the preoccupation with
race that Americans engender al
most amusing. On that Carribean
island, people of German or En
glish ancestry with hair and skin
that is as pale as snow, share a
language and a common Jamai
can identity with people whose
features indicate a wholly Afri
can descent.
It is not at all unccmimon to
see interracial couples strolling
down the beaches of Port Antonio
hand in hand as lovers.
Admittedly, one is black and the
other is white. But they share
similarities that dilute the salience
of race in their relationship.
accept the fact that these two
people may share a great deal in
common despite the obvious
differences in skin color.
The United States is neither
historically nor culturally like
Jamaica, yet an important lesson
can be learned from the way
relationships between the races
are bandied in that country. Race
there is not nearly as important
as a shared identity and under
standing — things important in
any relationship. There are with
out a doubt people in this country
who have similarities that draw
them together despite their dif
fering skin colors.
And what of Chris and
Meredith? Should they deny an
interest in one another simply
because he is black and she is
white? For all peq)le who believe
strongly in the sanctity of
individual freedom and the
universality of mankind, the an
swer ought to be a resounding
“No.” Let love rule. Peace.
Andrew Ballen is a junior
sociology majorfromGreensboro
who is of Jamaican and Belizean
ancestry.