The BluePrint. (None) 2013-????, February 28, 2014, Image 6

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Interracial Dating in the AUC By. Karys Belger C2016 and Veronica Fulton C2016 What is The Spelman Glee Club? Karrah Red C’2016 Speaks on the Glee Club Experience By. Analisa Wade C’20l6 Arts and Entertainment Section Editor Second Soprano Karrah Red, has been a member of the Spelman Glee Club for two years. The bonds she has created with her Glee sisters are irreplaceable and have truly impacted the way she views music. “Being a member has changed my Spelman experience,” Karrah said. “At first I wanted to quit. The transition was difficult being the freshman all over again.’ She quickly overcame the uneasy feelings and fell in love with who the Spelman music community was helping her become. Red refers to the director of the Glee Club, Dr. Kevin Johnson as a “musical genius”. “If it wasn’t for him, I’m not sure where the club would be,” she said. The Glee Club performs shows all around the country, so it gives the students a chance to travel and truly represent Spelman women, “Everyone doesn’t have the chance to visit Spelman College, so we give them the best depiction of what a Spelman woman looks like.” The members perform in black dresses, pearls, and red lipstick. “The three of them combined is to show what it is to be a woman of Spelman College as well as a woman of music.” To Red, being a woman of music is to like it, be serious about it, and to love it, “my life is devoted to music; music is not devoted to me.” The Glee Club continues to help her evolve and develop herself as an artist. Walking into it, she didn’t know what to expect, but now she understands it’s a major part of her matriculation as an artist. 6 Feb/March 2014 SpelmanPaper@gmail.com Interracial has long been a topic of great controversy. Though in our generation, the mixing of black, white, and other colors has become more common. However, despite growing tolerance, meshing between the races can still ignite passions. Actress Tamera Mowry grew up “not seeing color”. A product of a biracial background, she never saw anything wrong with interracial dating. When she announced her engagement to FOX News correspondent Adam Housley, she was bombarded with criticism from the African- American community for choosing to marry outside of her race. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Mowry said: “It’s hurtful, because my husband and I are so openly fine with showing love, but people choose to look past love and spew hate.” Here in the AUC the opinions of the student body are a bit more varied. Spelman senior Faith Porter expressed that while she would never consider interracial dating, she doesn’t see a problem for others who choose to do it themselves. Traveling abroad, she was exposed to cultures where black women were hyper sexualized. “My main concern is if you like me for myself or to fulfill a fantasy,” Porter said. With regard to black men, opinions are much more critical. The general consensus is that if a black man dates a white woman then he is a sellout. Spelman sophomore Madison Pulliam agrees. “The only reason a black man will date a white woman is because he is too weak to handle a strong black woman,” Pulliam said. “There are too many fine black women out here.” But what about Spelman women dating outside the color lines? Considering that there are more Spelmanites than there are men of Morehouse, one would think that it would be more acceptable for a woman in the AUC to explore other options. Yet there are still mixed feelings about the subject. “I like the idea of interracial dating, but not the practice,” said Morehouse sophomore Takelion Thompson. He believes that people tend to date outside of their race because of bad experiences while dating within their own. Like many of his fellow men of Morehouse, Thompson is unsettled with the idea of a black woman in the AUC dating a white male. “I feel like if black woman comes to the AUC and dates a white guy, then she really had to try,” Thompson said. The white students at Morehouse seem a lot less bothered. “I don’t really see anything wrong with it,” said Ian Niemeyer. “It’s seems like a really close minded viewpoint to say that people should only date people within their race.” Junior Stephen O'Reilly-Pol agrees. “I think it can be done with the right people involved,” he said. It seems as if the opinions on interracial dating are as varied as the people in the AUC themselves. While we can argue the fine points of interracial dating endlessly, we can agree that love is something that is bigger than us all. According to sophomore Theo Curuthers, “If God is love, and God created all of these different races, then interracial dating shouldn’t be a problem”. The BluePrint