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"Jungle Fever":
When "Love" Isn't Love
From A Black Woman’s Perspective
By Ericka L. Goodwin
In order to support society’s theme
of "freedom," one must come to the
conclusion, "to each, his own," when
referrihg to the topic of interracial
relationships.
Even though people may adopt this
viewpoint, they don’t necessarily have
passive attitudes on interracial
relationships.
On the contrary, many have strong
opinions.
These opinions vary from person to
person, but at this time, I will address
the general feelings that I have, an
observation from the African-American
female.
Many African-American women are
disgusted with the African-American
man because of his narrow-mindedness.
Sometimes, he seeks shelter with a
white woman without giving the
African-American woman a chance.
There are plenty of worthwhile,
intelligent African-American women
who desire companionship, and they
deserve a chance.
All many African-American women
want is for the African-American man
to give the women of his race a
By Kettisha M. Jones
My first thought when I saw
"Jungle Fever" was that it should have
been a documentary dedicated to teach
the young African-American men with
whom I attended high school.
My high school was in a small
Texas town where interracial
relationships were common.
Mainly, it was the typical black
boy-white girl relationship; however,
there were a few blade girls with white
boys.
It seemed as though every popular
black guy had a white girl on his arm.
Therefore, all of the other black guys
felt like it was the "in" thing to do.
When asked why they preferred
white girls over black girls, black boys
simply stated that black girls were too
loud and arrogant.
They also found our big bps and
"nappy" hair unattractive.
The only feature about black girls
that they did like was the shape of our
chance, and then if he can find no one
that is compatible, he can explore the
possibilities of pursuing a white
woman.
The popularity of successful,
intelligent African-American men
bypassing African-American women
strikes some as alarming.
With the amount of African-
American men violently dying before
the age of 21 at an alarming high, the
amount of young African-American
men is decreasing.
On the other hand, African-
American women are finding the
strength to conquer higher goals and
become more successful.
This situation causes a shortage of
ehgible African-American men, in
addition tc those men who are not
even attracted to African-American
women.
When African-American men
haphazardly abandon their race, they
further increase the shortage of men.
No wonder the women get angry
that there are not enough African-
American men with promising futures
to go around.
Black men must realize the internal
"Jungle
behinds.
Once I reached my junior year, I
had formed a strong prejudice against
white girls.
My friends and I began to call
them "W.G.’s" in code.
They were our enemies because
they had our men.
So we retaliated by dating other
black boys from our neighboring rival
schools.
The black boys then accused us of
being traitors.
Before long, some of the black
girls began dating white boys, and
suddenly, the black boys considered
them to be sell-outs.
When I became close friends with
a white boy, black boys asked me what
did I want a with a "cracker" when I
could have almost any "nigga" I
wanted.
It was as if they saw this white
boy as a threat. Yet, they were
and external beauty of African-
American women.
The intellect, strength and
determination of black women are
admirable.
They have been fighting against the
arms of oppression and have made
considerable progress.
They continue to achieve and work
toward high aspirations.
Black women have strong morals
that guide them and also have their
own external beauty.
As Fannie Williams, the first
woman appointed to Chicago’s Library
Board and one of the few black
members of the Chicago Women’s
Club, said, "What our...women have a
right to demand from our best men is
that they cease to imitate the artificial
standards of other people and create a
race standard for their own."
The black man needs to take „
good look at the blade woman and
recognize the beauty and culture that
she holds.
She is a living embodiment of a
rich heritage and the key to
maintaining it.
If blade men want to be true men,
in Texas
unwilling to give up their white
girlfriends.
The funny thing was that I actually
considered pursuing the white boy
since I lacked attention from black
boys. He was polite and treated me
with respect.
According to my schoolmates, it
was not okay for a black girl to date a
white boy.
Naturally, white parents did not
approve of interracial relationships
either.
I knew plenty of white girls whose
fathers would beat them for going out
with a black boy, just like in "Jungle
Fever."
Nevertheless, they kept going back
because they thought that they were "in
love."
I will not stereotype all white girls,
but most of them allowed black boys
to engage in sexual activities with
them. Of course, the boys took
they must examine any woman
thoroughly.
In my home tity of St. Louis, there
are a lot of interracial relationships,
espetially black men with white
women.
A great deal of white women think
that it is a game to play with black
men.
The black men either look past
this, don’t see this, or don’t care. I
guess some of them are playing a
game, too.
The bottom line is that black men
must mature and look for the true
women that admire and respect them
for who they are and not for the color
of their skin.
Interracial relationships are
acceptable to black women if they are
based on true feelings.
Black women simply want the
black man to recognize the many
positive qualities of the black woman.
In order to do this, the black man
must throw away all of his false
perceptions and open his eyes to
behold the sight of the true black
woman: a woman of strength, grace,
intelligence, tenderness and beauty.
advantage of that.
I lost two boyfriends because I
would not give in to their "needs," but
a white girl did.
An aspect of the interracial
relationships that upset me the most as
an African-American female was the
fact that when a black boy did date a
black girl, he disrespected her.
Usually, a black boy acted as if the
white girl was better, and therefore,
deserved the best
Notice how in "Jungle Fever,"
Wesley Snipes’ character was willing to
give up his family for a white woman.
However, if his wife were white, I
am not sure that leaving her would
have crossed his mind.
Even though the environment that
I was in was enough to make someone
feel inferior, I still had my pride and
let everyone know where I came from,
who I was, and where I was going in
life.