In an attempt to honor my favorite HBO original series, Sex and the City, I’ve came up with a “Carrie Bradshaw approach” to a controversial issue that it seems we will never stop talking about.

While it’s true that racism has been not only a big , but also overblown issue, there is a different aspect of it that I have yet to see grace the pages of the Pacer; interracial dating.

Now, while discussing this topic, we have a few bad things that hold us back from making a sound and intelligent decision.

Number one on the list is that we are in the South. Let’s face it people – the South doesn’t seem to be the most open-minded area of the states. And if you’ve always lived in the South, I’m sure you can think of a few idiotic slurs that you’ve heard concerning interracial dating.

Number two – being in the South, we have a number of communities who have received a reputation for their racist activities and beliefs. Anyone ever heard of Skullbone? I realize it may not be in the Weakley County area, but ask any of us Gibson County residents about its reputation.

I’m not saying that their reputation is necessarily factual.

Perhaps it is just a good example about the problems we have with this subject. Interracial dating first came to mind after passing by an extremely tense and ignorant situation in the quad. An African-American student and his Caucasian girlfriend were walking through the quad enjoying their day, while behind them two people snickered and joked about what they called, “the oddly couple”. The couple had the decency and the common sense to look past the ignorance and walk away. My challenge to all of you is to look past any ignorance you have experienced or have thought about experiencing as far as racism goes. We are all in this together and surely there are more important issues to address than ones that have been going on for years.

Let’s get some new issues and better ideas. (After all, we have plenty of room in opinions….hint hint).

So, my question to all of you is – is it really appropriate to criticize someone who is in an interracial relationship at this time in our lives?

Rebecca Paschall is a junior communications major from Rutherford, Tennessee.