Dating Panel Part 1
College campus students are sitting around in a horseshoe, deep in discussion.
JOHN: That’s not what I said, I’m just saying that I wouldn’t date a white girl, that’s all.
CALLIE: And why not?
JOHN: We’d be too different, they couldn’t possibly understand my experience. What do white girls know about discrimination?
CALLIE: Well in most parts of the world, if not all, women are still second-class citizens.
ANN: I think what John is saying is that here, in middle-class America, women aren’t subject to the same type of discrimination that he is.
JOHN: That’s what I’m saying. Maybe other guys can look past that, but for me it matters. Race is such a part of my reality that I don’t think I could relate to someone on that deeper level, if it wasn’t something they had to think about.
CALLIE: Don’t you think you’re limiting yourself though.
JOHN: No, there are plenty of non-white girls and I doubt I’d be attracted to a white girl anyway, or that one would be attracted to me.
ANITA: Famous last words.
JOHN: What? Why?
ANITA: Oh. Um, it’s just that when my dad first came to this country, he thought blondes were ugly. He thought they were anemic because their hair and skin were so pale.
JOHN: What’s your point?
ANITA: He ended up marrying one. My mom’s as blonde and pale as they come.
(Everyone laughs)
ANN: It’s not that I’m against interracial dating or marriage. It’s find for other people, but I wouldn’t want my kids dating outside their race. I wouldn’t let them.
MARCUS: Is that really your choice? What if they love the person?
ANN: I wouldn’t let them. You don’t understand, they would stand to lose their entire cultural and religious community. Family is everything. You can’t go against family, and I want my children and grandchildren to know their culture, their religion.
CALLIE: What makes you think they’d lose it.
ANN: My parents broke the mold, and the family almost deserted them. The only thing that kept it together was religion. If they hadn’t been the same religion….Well, I don’t want to risk it.
ANITA: If my parents had given into pressure, I wouldn’t be here. And is it really worth it? If people are going to be that prejudiced do you really want to stay in contact with them? Is it worth it?
ANN: Maybe not to you, but it is to me. Besides, what about the children? I wouldn’t want them to grow up like I did, confused. Or have to go through what my father did.
MARCUS: It's a different world now Ann.
ANN: Is it though? I see how people look at my family in certain parts of this country. Nothing's changed.
ANITA: The assumptions.
JOHN: People still question how my family is a family.
ANN: Mine too.
ANITA: And mine.
MARCUS: But who else is going to change it but us.
JOHN: You really think our generation is that much more progressive.
MARCUS: I really do.
JOHN: I don't.
MARCUS: You're a cynic.
JOHN: Probably, but it doesn't change reality