Inter-Racial-Dating & My Experience of Racism
Channel: Bruce Whealton
Date: 2023-01-06

This discribes my own experiences of racism and where my fears lie. As a white person, one might expect me not to have the same anxieties that a black person would have. Yet, early in my life, when I first tried to come out of my shell and date, I just happened to choose to ask out a black girl. This was in the south, in Atlanta, Georgia at Georgia Institute of Technology.

I had to contend with ideas that I didn't understand. It could be safe to date someone from another "race" in the Atlanta metro area but white people outside that area might not approve and would present a threat. This was conveyed to me by others who dated inter-racially. I had no reason to doubt the idea. There was evidence. Even in 2022, in a rural area of North Carolina, I heard disapproval for this practi ce. The major race was white in these areas and so my fear would be directed toward them in those areas. 

I would fear people who looked like me because of their beliefs and willingness to enforce their rules about who can date and marry.