Friday, September 14, 2001

Interracial couples still not fully accepted, some say
By Jacque Petersell
Staff Reporter

At one time, interracial relationships were thought of in terms of black and white, but Linda Moore, the associate dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences, said the issues involving interracial dating extend further than two skin colors.

“It is interesting that our focus tends to be on whites,” Moore said. “When we think of interracial dating we often think in terms of whites and people of color such as African-Americans, Hispanics and Asians, but rarely we think about or discuss Hispanic and African-American (couples) or Asian and Hispanic (couples).”

In 1960, interracial couples made up 0.4 percent of married couples in the Unites States, according to census information. In 1992, the number of interracial couples rose to 2.2 percent of the married population, according to the report. Only information on interracial couples consisting of black and white partners was available. Numbers for the 2000 census won’t be released until 2002, according to the census Web site.

Despite the slight increase of interracial marriages, couples still may face problems due to their race. Moore said issues surrounding interracial dating comes from society’s unwillingness to see beyond skin color.

“There are a lot of issues related to interracial dating that stem from our fear and ignorance about people different from us,” Moore said. “There are so many social class differences that lead to larger issues for couples, but our society is very focused on skin color and ethnicity.”

Darron Turner, associate dean and director of intercultural education and service, said the manner in which ethnic groups view the couple is important to interracial dating.

“In terms of how society is going to look at (interracial couples), it believes different ethnic groups shouldn’t mix,” Turner said.

Moore said, for the most part, society sees interracial dating as a bad thing. She said it seems many students do as well.

“It will depend on the friendship group, but there are many students who believe interracial dating is a bad thing,” Moore said. “On the TCU campus I have seen students place a lot of pressure on (other) students who date outside their cultural group. It means, for some couples, that they will be isolated.”

Moore’s husband, who died a year ago, was black. She said she has had no major problems on campus regarding her choices.

“I have found TCU to be a very accepting place and even students who are uncomfortable with the topic are open to learning something new,” Moore said. “My friends, professional colleagues and family were all supportive and did not see (the relationship) as an issue. In restaurants, there were looks and occasionally hostile glances, but for the most part, it was ignored.”
Another aspect of interracial couples is biracial children

Turner said children of interracial couples usually run into the same discriminations their parents have. However, he said biracial children have another problem to deal with, where they fit in.

“They aren’t allowed to claim both ethnic groups,” Turner said. “People try to (place) them into a certain area.

Moore said children’s problems are typically related to identity. Moore said her son has run into problems when identifying himself in school.

“My son now considers himself biracial, but the Fort Worth (Independent School District) does not have that category, so he must choose one or the other in the process, deny one or the other,” Moore said.

Moore said her son’s classmates are diverse and she hopes this will move more children to becoming comfortable with other biracial children.

Turner said as people are educated about different races, they begin to realize that couples, regardless of color, have something in common.

Jacque Petersell
j.s.petersell@student.tcu.edu