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Some Negro girls see in the Black Power movement a turning of the tide. "I really support the black cultural revolution," says Howard University's Stephanie Garrett. "Here they hold up the black woman and say, 'Look how beautiful she is.'" Other Negro girls are more leary. Huffs a Manhattan Negro career girl: "The 'black is beautiful' idea has affected very few Negro males. They still think that kinky hair and Negro lips are unattractive. A white woman is still a status symbol. It is for my brother. He married one."
"I Didn't Belong." In fact most interracial romances seem to be mostly exploratory; few so far have led to the altar. "These relationships really only go so far," explains Tinoa Rodgers, 25, a New York Negro who works as a Rockefeller aide. "There's a point where they break down." Adds Rodgers: "There is always the same question when a girl agrees to date: Is it me, or the 'difference' she's interested in?" Says a Howard University graduate: "I've dated two white boys, but I don't think I'd be comfortable any more. I think what really did it was when one of the white guys proposed to me. I asked myself why I was so scared? Was it because he was white or because I wasn't really in love with him?"
The pressures from within and without must at times seem all but over whelming to mixed couples, and the danger of emotional damage can be considerable. Georgia Herrick, 26, an editorial assistant in Manhattan, blames herself for the breakup of her own six-months'-love affair with a Negro. "In the beginning," she said, "I was trying to prove something to myself, a reaffirmation of the liberal beliefs I had been brought up under." The beliefs didn't carry her far enough. The one time that her black beau took her to a Negro hangout, she found "the language was incredible. But he couldn't say anything because then he would be labeled a 'white nigger.' " Adds Georgia sadly: "I guess the real problem was me. I didn't belong in his world."
The Whole Bit. But many couples insist that they do belong in the same world. Says San Francisco Negro Drama Student Toni Johns, 20: "I feel proud that I can date white boys, that my companion can do it, that we have no hang-ups, that we have enough sense and our heads are in the right place." And when it is a case of true love, the reaction can be fiery. Says Seattle Negro Musician Ernie Hatfield, 18, of his white fiancee: "We're not trying to prove anything. We love each other, that's all. To me Linda is Linda, my girl. If you don't feel this coming, man, you're way out of step."
U.C.L.A. Co-ed Jacqueline Thomas, a Negro, appraises her experience more poignantly: "I've gone through the whole bit. There was a time when I was 'thinking white' like everyone else; then I went through a period of hating everybody. I've come to the conclusion that there are always a few people who understand you and know how you feel. When you find them, it doesn't matter what they are—red, black, white, or whatever—you've got to take a chance with those people."