Recap: Monday’s Tyra show on interracial relationships

by guest contributor Nina

So on Monday I actually watched the Tyra show (which I never do I swear!) and I have to say, it was quite awful. Sure she focused on interracial dating, but other than having people in the audience stand up and verbalize their prejudices towards interracial couples on the stage, and have the couples defend their relationships, there was no depth at all. In fact I think she gave people more names to call those in mixed race relationships. I had never heard of the terms Rice Queen/Potato Queen that are used in the gay community. Thanks Tyra.

Then she had two women go on blind dates. A Korean woman who thought all Asian guys were nerds dated a Filipino. Uncomfortable! And a black woman dated a white man-and this was the worst since they had her take him to a soul food restaurant in a predominantly black neighborhood, and got shots of the patrons giving them the evil eye and the white boy asking how to eat oxtail. The show made me cringe.

But I got to thinking, what is the best way to do a show on racism and prejudice? Perhaps this would be a good Race Changers assignment. Clearly Tyra was not adept at handling this. If you saw the show I would love to hear your thoughts/comments. I reaize that many will say, what can you expect, it’s daytime TV. But should we let the media continue to dumb down important issues?