Modern Living: Boy, Girl, Black, White

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Soul Searching. Caught between the hard lines of white and black, interracial couples have found their social lives doubly difficult. Free communication between blacks and whites can easily become strained when a lovers' quarrel is misinterpreted as racism. At the same time the outside pressure can weld them together. In Atlanta, two dating students (white man, black girl) have grown accustomed to shouted obscenities on the street and open resentment from restaurant patrons. "It caused us a lot of soul searching," says the man. "We stayed up until all hours analyzing our relationship, trying to determine if there were any ulterior motives, or if we were trying to project a 'liberal image' in any way." They concluded that they were doing what was right for them and that "other people were not going to break us up."

Recently in downtown Washington a middle-aged interracial couple noticed a man staring absentmindedly in their direction. The woman, white, began screaming at him: "What's the matter, buddy? You see something? You see something new? Why don't you take a picture?" Her black escort calmed her and led her away. Neither had any idea that the white victim of her anger was married to a black woman.

After living with a black fashion model for a year, a white magazine editor explained why they married: "Where a white man and a black girl are living together, there's always a vaguely false atmosphere of hipness." His wife adds, "I didn't want it to appear too fashionable—you know, the swinging white bachelor living with the beautiful Negro model. After centuries of white masters sleeping with Negro slaves, I wanted my status to be clearly understood."

Given such outside pressures and tortured self-searching, are the rewards worth the sacrifices? For much of the country, no. According to a recent Harris poll, 72% of white Americans would be opposed to a close friend or relative's marrying a black. Blacks are far more sanguine about intermarriage; Harris finds 61% "not bothered" by a marriage between a black man and a white woman. But it is youth—black and white—that may belie both sets of figures. In a recent local poll conducted for the Boston Globe, 78% of college students approved of interracial marriage.