African Americans and Interracial or Inter-ethnic Dating

Are you an African American who is involved in a romantic relationship with someone from a different race or ethnicity? What do the terms race and ethnicity mean these days? The concept of race is one with which we are all familiar:  It is a way of distinguishing one population of human beings from another, and is commonly based on observable physical traits such as skin color and facial features.  Widely used racial categories in the United States usually include African American or Black, Caucasian or White, Asian or Oriental and Native American or American Indian. ( "Hispanic" is another category that pops up; some people may regard this as an ethnic category, while others regard it as a racial category.)  Are you an African American who is involved with someone  from a different race?  If so, you might be dating someone who is White, Asian or Native American.  Are you a African American who is dating someone from within your race, but is from a different ethnicity? An example of two people with a shared race but a different ethnicity would be a Black person who was raised in Kenya, Africa, and an African American who was raised in a the United States.

The whole idea of racial categories is controversial, and the newest genomic research indicates that we are, in fact, all descended from the same ancestors (making the whole of humanity effectively just a bunch of distant cousins).  So, no matter what your opinion is regarding the concept of race, the fact remains that we come from a social and cultural history that has focused on differences between groups of people.  And, while we may be maturing as a human culture toward a perspective that focuses more on our similarities, the fact remains that while change is a constant, it is often slow and difficult.  Because of this, African Americans who choose to be in a relationship with someone "different" need to be aware of the particular challenges the relationship will face.