White Daughter: “Dad, What would you say if I brought home a black boy?”
White Father: “The same thing I would say to any boy you brought home. Can you run faster than my shotgun can fire?”
White Daughter: “No, seriously Dad!”
White Father: “Ned, listen. Who you choose to date and who you choose to love is not my choice. It is yours, I don’t have to be with the guy, you do. If he loves you, if he treats you the way I expect him to, if he has ambition and if he makes you happy. Then I am happy.”
This is a conversation I had with my father some years ago. I know that both of my parents would genuinely not care who my siblings or I decide to bring home to meet the family. They love us no matter what and will support us in our decisions as well as our chosen partner. After all, the only thing that should be separated by colour is your washing.
To my friends and me, interracial relationships and dating are not obscure, taboo or wrong by any means at all. It’s just, normal. We see it all the time and are exposed to it on a daily basis. One of my dearest friends from school (a girl), who I have known since the age of ten and my brother’s best friend (a boy) who has been a big part of our lives since we were in nursery school dated. It was no surprise as they seemed to have a crush on each other for years at school and only decided to pursue their interests for each other at university. She was an honours student at school, played first team hockey and was an incredibly popular girl with her bleach blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He too was an honours student, a first team rugby player (now playing centre and fullback for the UJ Lions), a first eight rower at the top rowing school in the country and extremely popular with his athletic build and quick wit. She is white and he is black. To our generation, this raises no eyebrows. They are simply two people, with similar interests, who are best friends and who are in love. Not very different from any other couple I know (Except for the fact that I am positively sure that if they had children, they would dominate all the other kids in sports, lol!).
The same goes for another pair of our friends within our friendship circle. Thembi and Tammy. Both honours law students at the University of Pretoria who have been dating for about four years now. The same goes for my best friend Sam (who is a black girl at UCT) who has dated many white boys. The same thing goes for my younger sister who is fifteen. Ok, well she is not allowed to date yet, but she has the biggest (little girl) crush on one of my university friends, Mpho. It’s not very surprising both as he is a male model and all girls tend to go mad for him. If you can picture a mixture of Usain Bolt and Mario (the American singer/ actor), that’s how he looks. The same goes for another of my great school friends who is half Indian and half coloured. She is a South African swimmer who has won four gold medals at the previous youth Olympics and who is now at university in America on a swimming scholarship. She has a body to die for and is a stunning, stunning girl and all the boys (regardless of race) absolutely adore her.
If you are wondering what my point is, this article is written in conjunction to previous articles published here on news24 about being homosexual and what a parent might say if their child “came out the closet”. Personally I feel there is absolutely no problem with being either gay or lesbian, as long as you are happy.
So what would YOU say if your child or your sibling “came out the closet” about dating someone of a different race? Is it really that wrong in a modern democracy in the 21st century? I surely do not think so. We are all human beings with a brain and with a heart.
We are all free to date or fall in love with whoever we want to. That should not be dictated by society.
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