By Averi Harper
A group of first-year students sponsored a panel discussion on interracial dating Tuesday at Carroll Hall.
As a project for their Defining Blackness seminar course, the first-years decided to host The Passion, Pain & Pleasure of Interracial Relationships in Black Society.
The interactive panel discussion engaged the audience in laughter and serious thought.
There were eight UNC-Chapel Hill students with diverse backgrounds on the panel. They were asked a series of questions that made many attendees uncomfortable. One panelist who barely spoke mentioned feeling pressured to be politically correct. Others, like first-year student Mike Jones of Greenville, North Carolina, didn’t hold their tongues. In response to a question asked by an audience member, Jones responded, “I love women. I love black people, white people….I love everybody.”
Black Student Movement President Camile Jones was also a panelist. Jones answered tough questions without hesitation. In response to a question about raising biracial children, Jones said, “I would raise my children to be black because that is, most likely, how they will be treated.”
About 150 people attended the event. Timothy McMillian, instructor for the course, was proud his class put on such an event. “I was so happy when my class decided to do their forum on interracial dating because I knew it would draw a nice-sized crowd.”
The event also featured a performance by Ebony Readers/ Onyx Theater, the only spoken-word group at UNC. Sophomores Candace Crawford and Herrison Chicas performed a rendition of the heart-wrenching poem, “Gun and Bullet.”
Defining Blackness is seminar course offered only to first-year students and is designed to explore the significance of African American culture in the United States.
That is a nice topic to talk about considering people are so sensitive when it comes to that.