“Respect in Relationships“ (Blair Nash Forum)

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This was a very interesting event. The topic at hand was “Respect in relationships”!!! We all have a little Dr. Phil in us where we feel as if we hold the key answer to any age-old question. As well as we know that it's always the opposite sex fault. Very few of us take the time to reflect and look in the mirror and say to ourselves “what are we doing wrong?”.

In a situation like this ,the panel was made up of a diverse group of African American people who are successful in their own rights.

Rayshawn, was one of the men on the panel. He is a divorced, black mid-aged guy with kids. He seemed to have found himself and was comfortable with who he is and where he was in his life but still pointed his finger at women. Did someone hurt this man???

Malinda was a middle aged black woman that didn’t want to date men from her city. As a high standard, independent black business woman and a single mother who lives on her own, she felt she has been there and done that! “Do fellas see her as bitter”???

Corey is a man after my own heart! I love the way he was so open and honest. He said many times during this platform, “you have to look in the mirror and see what you have done or allowed”, “what was wrong and how can you grow from it ?“ He displayed his experiences and or beliefs while keeping God first. Could his foundation be solid???

Kim was once married for over 20 years. She now lived in the suburbs and she is rediscovering herself after she left her adult life partner. She was back on the dating scene and she was exploring life with a different view. She too had a lot of interesting things to say. Will she find love again???

Then you have Adrian.. which he was a hilarious piece to the panel. Attractive, Independent man who you couldn't take serious because he so very light-hearted to this topic and with his answers but didn’t mind a white woman and wasn’t afraid to say that. How did we get on white women???

When black people get together and talk about relationships it never fails that “interracial relationships” comes up. Let's keep it blunt and real “Why do our black men choose white women?” this quickly becomes the topic and it’s always such a touchy topic. All the old cliché answers were given such as “oh she's submissive” (so he can do whatever he wants) “oh why does he treat the white woman so much better?” and “why are black women so bitter?”.

I'm a black woman and I have dated a white man. I see it from both point of views, sometimes our black men feel like a white woman can treat them so much better than a black woman. Sometimes it is all about preference and that’s just the bottom line.

This forum was sophisticated and everyone got a chance to share their opinions . I felt they needed more time to go more in-depth on this topic as it was just heating up.

I look forward to the next forum. They never really said where the respect was but they did say there are things that we need to work on, grow and learn from. Everyone has a part to play in a relationships!