Interracial Dating: Still a Problem?
By Nadine Ishac
An important part of being a teenager
today is having that special someone to give hugs and kisses
to, and share many great moments with. Despite the fact that
many of us are head over heals in love, there seems to be one
little problem that we are still facing today in 2004: racism
Although we have come a long way in
certain aspects of fighting racism, some couples are still frowned
upon for not sharing the same religion, the same color skin,
or even the same nationality while dating.
Back in the 1930's, while Germans were
thought to be the superior race, marriage, or any positive interaction
between a Jew and a German was forbidden. The Nuremberg Law was
passed in 1935 and if it was disobeyed, the "offenders"
had to face imprisonment.
Today there is no such law in the country
we live in. However, we still have many people who are prejudiced
against other races and who will discriminate against them in
order to prevent any sort of association with them; especially
dating.
It is good to see that many interracial
couples are present here in Montreal. Our generation seems to
be much more open-minded to other cultures than our parent's.
For this reason, a lot of teenagers are secretly dating in order
to keep their boyfriend or girlfriend's identity from their parents.
" I used to date a Muslim guy and
my parents didn't know about it. We went out for a year and a
half and my parents never found out. We're Christians and although
religion doesn't matter much to me, it does to them! They would've
never understood that I could date a Muslim guy and remain a
Christian myself. They're very prejudiced. It would've been the
same story if they guy was Jewish or anything else," says
a 19-year-old Vanier student, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Another girl had quite a similar story.
Her parents didn't like her boyfriend just because he was Arabic.
She had arranged for her boyfriend to come over and meet her
parents after 3 months of dating. Her Canadian parents weren't
too fond of their daughter's choice simply because of his Arabic
roots. "My boyfriend's not even Muslim, he's a Christian
just like us but my parents didn't care about religion in the
matter; they were preoccupied with the culture differences,"
she said after stating that they are still going strong five
months later despite her parents' disapproval.
I asked 30 random Vanier students whether
their parents would approve of them dating interracially. Eighteen
of them responded that their parents would most likely disapprove,
while 12 said it would probably be okay.
The sample was pretty small, therefore
it is not representative, but I just wanted to get an idea about
the matter.
Finally, it is important to remember
that whether we're Black, Jewish, Asian or Christian, we're still
all human beings and to those who realize that: way to go! To
those who still have a problem with other religions or races…it's
time to grow up! |
