Credibility

Here's something that's been on my mind for awhile now. My mom asked me this question when I was dating my ex-girlfriend Mary. Let me give you some backgrounnd...

Mary was part Spanish, part Chinese, but mostly grew up with white folks so basically she was white with a tint. I used to talk to her about minority issues, but she never understood.

Ok back to the present...I have a propencity to date white girls. That's not to say I don't date anyone else because I don't discriminate (at least not consciously). I women's a women and if she hot and smart (not necessarily in that order) I'm down. Just so happens I've dated a lot of white girls.

Anyway, I fashion myself as a person who is socially aware of who I am, a black man living in a world where mostly white folks are in charge. I speak out about a lot of issues affecting minorities, especially black folks. I want to see disenfranchised folks get ahead, whatever race they may be. As I grow older and become a professional or academic, whatever, I find myself wanting to speak to students about minority issues, maybe as a professor.

So the question I pose to whomever is listening is can a minority dating or married to a white person lose credibility when speaking about minority issues? A friend of mine said that if Louis Farekhan (sp?) fell in love with a white woman he'd have to step down as the leader of the Nation of Islam. I told her she was crazy, but would he really have credibility to talk about the white man being the devil? How does marrying a minority affect your political views (not repub or demo, but issues involving minorities)? No matter whom I'm with, I'm going to still speak of the injustices of the world.

Back to my mom, she always asked me how I can talk about the man stepping on the toes of black folks when I'm dating a white girl. Just told her I didn't know, but I wasn't going to stop.

Thoughts?