I live on campus and
these posters have caught my eye lately in the halls of the CSUSB Villages.
Everytime I walk into my building I come across them and can’t help but think
that this is wrong. Can you see what I see?
Datesafeproject.org
The mission of this program is too increase
awareness of sexual assault and encourage sexual education in various
institutions, which is fine – it actually is a very good thing to do. What’s
not working here is that every single poster shows a couple formed of a male
and a female of similar ethnicity : Black couple, Asian couple, Caucasian
couple… Three posters side by side on the same wall. (Unfortunately, I couldn’t
take a picture of the White couple poster because it has been taken down, but
you get the idea)What does this suggest? How is interracial dating perceived in
America?
A friend and I – both from Montreal, Canada, a
very diverse city – questioned ourselves : Isn’t California one of the
most, if not THE most liberal state in the USA? Why wouldn’t these posters show
interracial relationships? Would it be shocking? Many questions went through
our minds and we had a good conversation about interracial dating and
relationships, even interracial friendships – my friend is Black and I am
Caucasian – comparing what we have experienced back home in Montreal to what we
have seen here in San Bernardino and the rest of California, since the
beginning of our exchange program this Fall quarter.
Denzel
Washington goes interracial
Within the same week of having this
conversation, I saw the trailer for a new movie called Flight, and thought it
looked pretty good. As I always do when I am interested in seeing a movie, I
turned to IMDB to know a little more
about the plot, cast, viewers rating and other details. I was surprised when I
noticed that the main character, played by Denzel Washington, has a
relationship with a Caucasian woman.
What surprised me is not the relationship
itself, obviously, but the fact that there was no hint suggesting an
interracial relationship in the trailer. Yet, a romantic kissing scene in a
movie trailer usually attracts viewers. Again, the question that went through
my mind was: Would showing interracial romance repel viewers?
According to this Washington Post article by
columnist Courtland Milloy, members of the audience at the theater said “the
relationship was awkward and didn’t work for them”, and one of them added: “Why
couldn’t they have found a black actress to co-star with Denzel?” Even
Washington himself has reportedly said:
“White men bring women to movies, and they don’t want to watch a Black man with their woman.”
This made me feel sorry and made me realize
that America has not yet reached the point of acceptance and open mindedness I
thought it had reached toward interracial dating and relationships. The fact
that Flight presents a relationship between a Black man and a Caucasian woman
is a step forward, but hiding it from the movie trailer is a step back.
Hope
A study conducted earlier this year by the Pew
Research Center claims that interracial marriages in the U.S. have climbed to a
record 4.8 million. America might be on the right path… And apparently,
California is the No 1 state for interracial dating! Let’s hope the
Datesafeproject.org posters were just a misrepresentation of reality…
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