At forum, club opens up about race's role in dating

By: Sandra Plasse

Posted: 11/14/07

Freshman Vanessa Longshaw's relationship with her Macedonian boyfriend ended soon after his parents found out they were together. They didn't want him dating a Jamaican girl.

Although her boyfriend's father was never overtly racist, he would make indirect comments in front of her, the broadcast journalism major said. Despite the experience, Longshaw said she continues to date interracially.

"Everyone is going to have a bad experience at some point," Longshaw said.

On Tuesday evening, the Multiracial Experience, a club created in 2001, held an interracial dating forum. The club was created to support students of mixed-race parents while focusing on other social issues on campus.

"We are about maintaining individual identities," said senior Narisa Olivieri, club president. The psychology and child and family studies major said the group is trying to bring awareness to campus and create atmospheres where people can openly discuss issues.

The forum began with a question: "Have you ever been in an interracial relationship?"

The majority of the room stood up.

There was no debate among the 30 or so students present concerning the acceptance of interracial dating. Many shared their experiences with interracial dating, revealing that the outside world was not as accepting as those in the room.

"It's really going on everywhere around us," said senior Amrika Ramnath, club treasurer. The information studies and technology major said in New York City, her hometown, interracial couples are common. She compared that with her experience on the Syracuse University campus. Here, she said, there is so much segregation that interracial dating is almost frowned upon.

By discussing the issues, "people become enlightened. People leave with different viewpoints that will affect their way of thinking," Olivieri said.

Throughout the discussion, the group talked about personal relationships, ideas of marriage outside of race, culture and religion. The conversation ranged from the way celebrities affect society's perception of interracial dating and how history influences today's social norms.

"(Interracial dating) is still taboo, which is weird because it's 2007 and we should be more progressive," Longshaw said.

There are other important factors in a relationship including interests, values and beliefs, Ramnath, the treasurer, said. People date within their race because it's the safe thing to do to maintain their culture. She also suggested that some students may be more attracted to their own culture.

"I date in and out of the race," Ramnath said. She said she receives more intolerance about interracial dating from her cousins than from outside of her family.

Senior Nelson Figueroa once told his mother about his interracial relationship.

"I knew she was going to react, but I wanted to see it and critique it and give her advice," the political philosophy major said.

There is only a conflict of religion, race or culture when people are categorized, Figueroa said. He added that if students choose a category, they will push people unlike themselves away.

"Eliminate all categories," he said. "When you fill out an application, why doesn't it say Latino?"

The categories cause Figueroa to label himself as something that he may not personally associate with.

Figueroa has his own strategy for overcoming the category box conflict: "I check all of them," he said.

Longshaw, the Jamaican freshman, has her own advice for interracial couples.

"You have to know you are taking a risk. It's like any other relationship, but far more guidelines arise from it."