LIVity

I just got home from vacationing in Miami which is always an enjoyable experience, but this trip solidified how unfortunate race relations are in this country.

Because Miami attracts international tourists, it gives me the opportunity to interact with people, men mostly, from various cultures. With the exception of Americans, it seems pretty universal that they are attracted to me or find me interesting without taking ethnicity into account.

On the other hand, every American man that I spoke with asked about my race. This is where things got really sad. When I told them I'm black, I got responses such as, I'm too pretty to be black or pressing me to find out what I could be mixed with because I don't look African. The latter statement was from a conversation between me and a white man. Ironic that information his forefathers worked to erase is the precise information he wants in order to justify his attraction to me.

But the bigger question is, why does a white man's attraction to a black woman need to be justified??

Remember when Beyonce was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2007?? She is one of two black women to ever be placed on the cover and it came about during the controversy about whether or not she is Creole. There are still differing opinions about this, but it was just the foothold white men needed to allow themselves to openly admit their attraction to her.

This is more of a rant than anything because the only solution to this problem is for these men's mindset to change.  And since I don't have the power to change anyone's mind about anything, all I can do is comment on how sad it is and keep it pushing.