I recently came across this story from The Root and sighed. As younger black women increasingly express their willingness to date out (through surveys, social media and support of celebrity black women in IRRs), AND men of other races become more vocal in their adoration of black women’s beauty, the hand wringing in the black community has become frenzied. The preferred tool to discourage black women from dating out now seems to be the “fetish” angle, versus the slavemaster meme which is shot down pretty quickly these days.

I am still not sure what the point was of such an overwhelmingly negative story. “Expand the racial make-up of your dating pool and expect rejection!” “White men are incapable of seeing black women as worthy of partnering; they just want to experience your black goodies!” “Technology is a dating bust for black millennials because white people ignore them! So, use an app that’s only for black people!” Yes, there are creeps everywhere. Yes, there are some people of other races who physically prefer their own race. But, if based on your goals, hobbies and interests, you find your dating pool organically consists mainly of people outside your race, disregard the creeps and keep moving forward with the guys who genuinely want you. And never feel burdened with representing the entire black race to each non-black dating prospect you encounter; that’s a self-made recipe for anxiety, frustration and exhaustion, none of which are attractive to other people.

If nothing else, the survey referenced in the story is good news – 93% of millennials surveyed have no issue with interracial dating. Cheers to the generation of tomorrow which sees no problem in choosing character over color.