Mark Rawls in a perceptive discussion asks a question that demands an answer: Do we need a "cure" for our jungle fever? The phenomenon he refers to is that of interracial love and sex, now more than ever out in the open. There are, as Rawls notes, an increasing number of interracial couples becoming visible in this country; they may be people who are married, may be with full knowledge of their husband, or may be just casually dating -- an almost "therapeutic" and fleeting fling.Nowadays you can see them on television programs, in movies, in music videos, even in small Southern towns. What was unthinkable, even illegal in most states in America not so long ago, is now becoming more common.
We have such a fascination (or hesitation) when it comes to interracial romance and marriage.
Is it something primordial like jungle fever? Or something touching and moving like saving the last dance for something real? Is it the lure of forbidden fruit, or perhaps something much deeper than we are ready to admit?
Of course there are many different types of interracial relationships, but the one that causes the most talk is the black man on white female variety.
The phenomenon of the black/white relationships is fundamental to all other mixed relationships. How society at large views this mixture does affect the perception of the others.
America has a troubled history when it comes to race relations in general, but to go beyond that and stumble upon, or in some cases, seek the other side of the fence has really been the last taboo between black and white people.
Even though it is becoming more common nowadays, there is still that reaction an interracial couple can arouse in some people because they believe it is wrong to date anyone outside of your own race.
"You should stay with your own kind", they may say. Or if God meant for the races to mix, He would have made them the same from the beginning, and other such "biblical truths."
Moreover, some white people would tell you that they have black friends, etc. and think of themselves as open-minded when it comes to blacks.
But if one of their children should happen to date, or God forbid, marry a black person; you can see the trepidation in their eyes.
Why is it wrong to find someone attractive of another race? And then to go a further step and actually date them? I know of both black men and black women who frown upon such couples.
Especially in the black woman's case since more black men are prone to enter an interracial relationship.
Some black women dislike the fact that there is already a scarcity of "good" black men out there. So when they see a decent black man with a white woman, it is like a slap across the face.
They wonder why you could not find a black woman to your liking and so forth, which is understandable. Some black preachers seem to back up these disgrunted sistahs in their frustration, occassionally even echoing the old canard of Biblical opposition to mixed marriages. Remember, "if God meant for the races to mix, He would have made them the same from the beginning." And "we should not be unequally yoked with outsiders."
Black Muslim preachers not long ago were having a veritable fit over the seductions of the sinister "white delilahs" and the resultant "defilement" of the noble Black Man lured to the sex appeal of such vixens.
Most Black clergy in this country, however, tend at least to tolerate the existence of mixed uinions, and -- when asked -- offer them a qualified blessing. After all, America's history is nothing if not a continuous, ongoing melting pot.
And in the public at large, moreover, an increasing number of people say that they do not care about it one way or another; people are people to them.
A young executive from Brownsville, Tennessee sees no problem with dating a white woman. "When I see a woman, I don't see a color; I just see a woman. If she is white, that does not matter to me." He dates many kinds of women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds.
A seventeen-year-old black woman also told me that she is currently dating a white guy, though she did tell me she does not like to express affection in public when they are together.
It used to be that you saw white women or white men with prominent black celebrities such as Quincy Jones, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson or O. J. Simpson (don't get me started on the peculiarities of that case).
Now the occurrence has "trickled down" to the less stellar masses of African-Americans.
It is common to see young black teenaged males with white girls (of `The Last Dance` genre), and to a lesser extent, white teenaged males with black females.
As is true in many cases, younger people are more open to experimentation than the older generation. Most of these kids genuinely find each other attractive and fun to be with in social settings, etc. Cupid's arrow is sometimes a bit too unpredictable for the past generation's thou-shalt-nots and taboos.
Nevertheless, there are some who cannot resist the fact that they are shocking their elders (or ex-husbands) with that person of another color and do it as another aspect of rebellion -- or as a declaration of independence or personal autonomy.
Some are curious about the sexual myths they have heard about, i.e. "black men have huge cocks" or white women are wetter, etc.
In 1967, in Loving Et Uxor v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Virginia's anti-miscegenation law was unconstitutional because "�Ender our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state."
After that monumental court ruling other Southern states and most of the other US states had such clauses taken out of their state constitutions.
Moreover, as recently as 1998, South Carolina became one of the last states to remove its ban on interracial marriage from the state constitution.
Interracial love, romance, sex, whatever you want to call it, is just another area of the black and white equation.
Like every other area from politics to culture, black and white people must begin to find a common ground among each other, rather than constantly looking for ways to dislike one another. It`s still possible to build bridges, if there are just enough honest people to make the effort.
It is difficult enough to find a decent relationship between individuals within each race. So it is best not to make matters worse by stoking fires that cannot be easily controlled.
If some people should have a problem with seeing black and white couples together, I suggest that they take an aspirin and call Dr. Ruth in the morning.
That is, if she makes house calls.
See the complete essay by Mark Rawls
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In the 1990s opinion gurus came up with a new phrase for a phenomenon that was not so new.
Voting in a bloc, and perhaps thinking that way too, these guys were infuriated by such things as smart women, weak men, Jungle Fever all over the place, and a guy named Bill Clinton. For me, it is not proof of weakness in a man that he is proud of smart women, or supportive of Jungle Fever, or is not offended that more white women than ever are desirous of building bridges to a community that may well be America's true wealth -- our Black Gold. Let's be like Gamaliel who said, "let them alone: for if this be of men, it will come to nought: But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God. " Let's be like the admonition, "what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
For me, I want to be on the side of the angels. I want to be on the side of those who sing over what God hath wrought. My prayer is that these couples whom God hath joined might be able to say with rejoicing, "Thou settest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies."
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