Dating a Black Man and my Friends' Reactions, by Yvonne White

One day, my Nigerian friend Yvonne and I were at a store, and I saw a handsome black dude. I wanted to go out with him badly. I decided to make an attempt. I went to him, clearing my throat. I told him that my name was Sarah and I asked for his name. He told me his name was Michael Stokes. I told him Michael was a lovely name since it means God-like. I introduced Michael to Yvonne.

I asked Michael if we could go out on a date to be able to know one another. Michael said yes, that 7:30 p.m. at Tokyo Buffet Restaurant would be fine. I told Michael that was great and gave him my address.

Michael and I got along fine. I told my friends about Michael and told them he was black.
At first, my friends told me they did not mind if I dated a black guy as long as he treated me right. However, two weeks later, I got messages from my friends about how crazy I was to date a black man. To add, they told me to watch the news about how black people steal, kill, pull their pants down, use slang from their ‘hoods and wear sweaters with hoods to cover their faces.

This made me angry because they believed all black people were bad people. I told Yvonne about it. She told me to pay those haters and Nusobu (trouble-makers) no mind. Yvonne told me African people got stereotyped because of their accents. They were called uneducated, third-world country people due to lack of technology. Yvonne also told me people got shocked when they found out Africans learned how to speak English and other languages in Africa, and some of them could afford to go to college. Yvonne also told me that, despite the problems Africans face every day, they keep proverbs, wisdom and knowledge with them every day to keep them strong.

This made me to feel much better. I would continue to date Michael, despite what my friends or anyone said about him.