(White) Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble

(White) Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble:
The Obsession of White Women for Black Men

Paul Scott




Back in the day, Will "The Fresh Prince" Smith had a cool little video called "Girls Ain't Nothin' But Trouble." The video had Smith going through various dramatic episodes with black women. Despite having to jump out of a second story window and missing a RunDMC concert , The Fresh Prince came through the video unscathed, became a big time movie star and lived happily ever after. However, if there had been a white girl in the video, Smith would have either wound up doing a 10 year bid in the state pen or hanging by a noose, somewhere...

I first caught the trailer for the upcoming flick "Obsessed" a few months ago. The movie is about a white woman (Ali Larter) who tries to steal Beyonce's man (Idris Elba) and break up their happy home. I could tell by the look on the sistas' faces in the theatre that this movie could mean trouble for brothas who dared venture on the other side of the tracks.



According to the previews, Larter's character goes psycho after her initial advances go ignored by Elba but somehow she, miraculously, winds up in his bed. Imagine that. If you don't want to be in a theatre with a lot of black women sucking their teeth and screaming "beat that chick down," you might want to check out another movie. Now, Beyonce/Sasha Fierce isn't a bad actress but if I had directed this flick I would have gotten a dark skinned sister like Fantasia or Jennifer Hudson to play the lead. That would have made it really, real.

White women going after black men and vice versa is a touchy subject with black women. We've all heard the statistics about the lack of available black men. So, many women see it as an act of treason when a brotha is caught "sleepin' with the enemy."

Maybe the sista souljahs have a reason to be concerned. It does seem that when black men become successful, the first thing they do is grab an Escalade and a white chick.

It is hard to deny the fact that there are a whole lot of famous black men with white wives and girlfriends. So, when a brotha like Will Smith or Denzel Washington marries a sista, he is applauded by black women everywhere. Even Barack Obama got more props from black women for marrying Michelle than he did for getting elected president.

Historically, the relationship between black men and white women has not been all peaches and cream. In the South, it was not strange for a black man to end up at the bottom of a lake for even being accused of whistling at a white woman. Remember Emmett Till?

My first experience with a white girl when I was five years old left a lasting impression on me. I was at White Lake, NC with my new fast friend, "Suzie" building sand castles when she was suddenly summoned by her grandma who had been mean muggin' me from a distance for some time. Suzie returned two minutes later, loudly informing me that she was not allowed to play with n****.

That pretty much did it for me.

But yet, many black men still choose to bite the forbidden fruit. The reasons why vary.

Black women have not always been given the credit that they deserve. From elementary school onwards, the epitome of beauty given to black boys is Princes Diana and not Queen Nefertiti. It must also be noted that there was a period when black women were only thought of as baby making machines on a plantation while Miss Ann was the "flower of southern womanhood."

The reasons are also social and economic.

Franz Fanon hints in "Black Skin ,White Masks" that by entering into a white woman, the black man ,symbolically, enters into the white world with all of its privileges. Socially speaking, some black men believe that Heather can take him to dinner parties that Shaquanna can't.

The attraction of white women to black men also has historical roots that reach back to slavery. Lerone Bennett in his book "Before the Mayflower" points out that that "Ms. Mary" let Mandingo slip into the big house to give Massa Charlie a little payback for getting a little brown sugar on the side. So many white women see sleeping with black men as a way to fight back against a white male dominated society.

Also, for this Hip Hop generation, black women are the in thing. For better or worst, give Hip Hop credit for increasing the TV exposure of black women 100%. Give even the palest white chick a few hours in the tanning salon, a pair of padded jeans and a black boyfriend and you have an honorary "light skinned" sista.

So for the white chick trying to be black and the black dude trying to be white, it's a match made in heaven. (or some other place)

Maybe, it ain't all that deep...

Possibly, trying to psychoanalyze interracial relationships is a waste of time. Perhaps we, simply, choose to love who we choose to love.

To each his own.

But for me, I follow the teachings of that great philosopher and rapper Heavy D,


"Black coffee.. no sugar, no cream..."


Paul Scott, the Hip Hop TRUTH Minista, write for No Warning Shots Fired.com http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com