November 3, 1997, Monday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 2143 words

HEADLINE: INTERRACIAL DATING For today's teens, race 'not an issue anymore'

BYLINE: Karen S. Peterson

DATELINE: NORCROSS, Ga.

BODY:
NORCROSS, Ga. -- As Americans struggle with racially charged issues
from affirmative action to record-breaking immigration, high school
students have started a quiet revolution that could signal a shift
in the way the nation will come to look at race.

According to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of teenagers across the
country, 57% who go out on dates say they've been out with someone
of another race or ethnic group -- whether white, black, Hispanic
or Asian.

The poll also finds that some racial barriers remain, particularly
between white and black teens. But experts who have explored the
dynamics of the nation's growing multiculturalism believe many
teens are on the leading edge of cultural change, looking at race
in a way that seemed inconceivable just two decades ago.

"For a lack of a better term, there is a kind of de-racialization
of American society hinted at in these statistics," says Elijah
Anderson, an ethnographer at the University of Pennsylvania and
author of Streetwise.

"You do have to be cautious, but I can see implications for interracial
bonding in the future, implications for the workplace, for government,"
Anderson says.

When Gallup last asked teens about interracial dating, in 1980,
just 17% said they had dated someone of another race, though Hispanics
were not specifically included in that count.

The results of the new poll, conducted Oct. 13-20 of 602 teens,
reflect the ubiquity of interracial dating today -- a trend strongly
supported by anecdotal evidence gleaned from dozens of interviews
across the country with teachers, school counselors, principals,
parents and students.

"The very fact this many teen-agers are willing to say they have
dated interracially is, I think, a big shift," says Ellis Cose,
author of the new Color-Blind: Seeing Beyond Race in a Race-Obsessed
World.

In general, those interviewed say interracial dating has become
far more common in part because heavy immigration of Hispanics
and Asians has increased chances of meeting people from other
racial and ethnic groups. Minority enrollment in public schools
nationally is a record 35%, up from 24% in 1976.

They also credit increasing acceptance and frequency of interracial
marriage: There were nearly 1.3 million married interracial couples
in 1994, the Census Bureau reported, four times the number in
1970.

Although experts may view the teens' behavior at the vanguard
of social change, the teens say it's no big deal.

"I think people are getting used to growing up with different
races, and you feel a lot more comfortable now," says Vertrice
Duke, 17, a student at Meadowcreek High, a racially diverse school
in the Atlanta suburb of Norcross. "It's not like it is a color
thing anymore. You have been with different races all your life."
Vertrice, who is black, dates a Hispanic.

Angela McMillan, 16, and Eddie Untachantr, 16, are another Meadowcreek
couple. Angela does not care that she is white and Eddie is Asian-American.

She dates Eddie for the reasons teens always date each other,
she says: his "looks, his style, the way he dances. He plays
soccer and so do I. We have a lot in common."

The poll supports those views. Many teens see "interracial dating"
as just "dating":

-- While 57% of teens who date say they have gone out with someone
of another race or ethnic group, another 30% say they would have
no objection to doing so.

-- Dating with Hispanics accounts for a sizeable portion of interracial
daters. But even removing Hispanics from the results, 31% of teens
who date have done so interracially -- almost twice the percentage
found in the 1980 poll.

-- In most cases, parents aren't an obstacle. A separate USA
TODAY/Gallup Poll found 62% of parents of teens say they would
be "totally fine" if their children dated interracially.

That does not surprise Reynolds Farley of New York's Russell Sage
Foundation, which sponsors social science research. "The parents
of these teens would be in their late 30s and early 40s," he
says. "They will have experienced some of the liberal attitudes
from the civil rights revolution."

-- Virtually all teens (97%) say they or other teens date interracially
because they "find the person attractive." Other frequent reasons
include curiosity (75%); "trying to be different" (54%); and
to rebel against their parents (47%).

-- Interracial dating is much more likely to take place in suburbs
(64%) and cities (64%) than in the nation's predominately white
rural areas (40%).

13% say they will never cross racial line

This is not to say that all teens are dating across racial or
ethnic lines, or that they want to.

Although the poll shows overwhelming acceptance of the practice,
it also finds 43% of teens who date haven't dated interracially
and 13% who say they never would.

Those teens report any number of reasons to pollsters, most sounding
the familiar themes of racial division: "I've been raised that
it wasn't right;" "You should stick with people of your own
kind;" "Because you receive so much grief from society and it's
not worth it;" "I wouldn't want to marry them."

When there are objections from teen-agers or parents to interracial
dating, they show up most strongly in relationships with blacks,
the poll found:

-- Seventeen percent of white teens who date have gone out with
a black. That's almost the same percentage who have dated an Asian,
even though there are four times as many blacks as Asians in the
United States.

-- Forty-four percent of black teens who date have dated a white.
That means blacks are almost as likely to date an Hispanic as
a white, though whites vastly outnumber Hispanics.

-- Black-white dating is most likely to cause teens trouble with
other teens of their own race: 24% said whites would have a problem
with a white teen dating a black; 23% said blacks would have a
problem with a black teen dating a white.

Just 8% say Asians would be troubled by an Asian teen dating a
white.

-- Finally, 35% of non-black teens who haven't dated interracially
say their parents would object if they dated a black teen, compared
with 20% whose parents would object to a white, Hispanic or Asian.

"That racial barrier is still the strongest," says University
of Florida sociology professor Joe Feagin, who has researched
race relations 31 years. "Blacks who date whites will get negative
comments from their community. White parents feel that only over
their dead bodies will their child ever date a black."

Mary Broadhurst also finds resistance. The past president of the
Georgia School Counselors Association, Broadhurst says, "I have
observed that black parents on the whole -- and the white parents
-- don't want their kids dating" each other.

The teen-agers see problems, too. Vertrice Duke says her black
friends want to make sure her boyfriend is known as Hispanic,
not white. Dating a white boy would not be acceptable to them.
"But everybody's cool about it now, because it's like, 'Oh, he's
Spanish. He's not white,' " she says.

Thuy Hoang, 17, an Asian-American at Meadowcreek, dates white
student Chris Brown, 18. They have no trouble, she says, though
others might. "A lot of people don't look at me and Chris as
being interracial," she says. "If you see a black person with
a white person, they think that is interracial."

'Trend is growing very, very fast'

Part of the reason for such hostility is the continuation of the
"color hierarchy" that teens learn at home, says Larry Hajime
Shinagawa, chair of the department of American Multicultural Studies
at Sonoma State University. "Any Asian daughter knows if she
can't marry another Asian-American, her parents might tolerate
a white person," he says.

Lydia Rosado, of the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families
in New York, works with children of Spanish-speaking cultures.
She has counseled many teenage girls whose parents "want them
to date someone lighter in skin, not darker. Skin color is still
a problem."

The teens here at Meadowcreek acknowledge they sometimes get flak
-- from peers and parents.

Shawn Boykin, 17, who is black, says black girls have hassled
him for dating a white. "I just say, 'You only date black guys?
So you just like to have the same cereal every morning?' and I
feel I get the best of them."

And Shawn's girlfriend, Dawn Haney, 19, says she "spent a lot
of nights crying, talking to my dad" before he agreed to Shawn's
coming to their house.

Eddie Untachantr has felt some pressure. "I have been called
a sell-out because a lot of the Asians at this school like to
hang out just with each other," he says. "When they see me with
a white girl, they feel like I'm singling myself out."

But for the most part at Meadowcreek, teens say, the problems
are small. Its 2,035 students attend one of the most diverse high
schools in Georgia, with 34% whites, 29% blacks, 21% Asian-Americans,
14% Hispanics and 2% of other races.

"Our students pretty much choose their friends based on who they
are, not their color," principal Patrick Mahon says.

As psychologist and author Brenda Wade puts it, even Disney has
noticed the interracial dating trend.

Pocahontas is "an interracial dating story in a cartoon
for children," she says. And Sunday's television remake of Cinderella
starred the black pop singer Brandy, saved by a Philippine-born
Prince Charming. The two productions show the dating phenomenon
"has penetrated to the core of our culture," Wade says. "The
trend is growing very, very fast."

It's being noticed.

In Los Angeles, says David Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center
for the Study of Latino Health at UCLA's School of Medicine, "the
phenomenon is going younger. . . . My daughter just turned 15
and among her and her friends, this is not even an issue anymore."

On the other side of the country, family therapist Kenneth Hardy
each year asks his incoming marriage and family class at Syracuse
University how many have been involved in interracial relationships.
"The numbers go up each year. This past year, in a class of 200
students, about 40% said yes."

The question then becomes, where does it lead?

In interviews, some experts go so far as to suggest the new poll
findings, combined with studies showing greater acceptance of
interracial marriage, portend literally a changing face for America's
future. They project a multiracial nation symbolized by golfer
Tiger Woods' self-proclaimed "Cablinasian" (Caucasin-black-American
Indian-Asian) heritage.

"The more teen-agers date, the greater the likelihood they might
marry," says Zhenchao Qian, a sociologist at Arizona State University.
"We do see a great increase in interracial marriage in the last
20 years."

But many say linking teen dating and marriage may be getting ahead
of the game.

Shinagawa says teens who date interracially in high school often
prefer their own race later. "Many times they become politicized
in college and rediscover their ethnic and racial identity,"
he says.

In fact, some experts note simultaneous trends: increasing racial
hostility on college campuses and increasing colleagial racial
interaction in high school.

Parents, too, exert influence. And while many might not object
to interracial dating, marriage could be another story.

Meadowcreek parent Doug Brown has no qualms about his son, Chris,
dating an Asian-American. But he would worry about "serious decisions,
permanent commitments." A major concern is religious differences.
Chris, he says, is "pretty serious about his Church of God background.
Something would have to give."

Charlie Moshell is the father of John Moshell, 18, who is white
and dates Kate Llaga, 17, an Asian American at Meadowcreek. "I
put rules down," his father says. " 'These are the things you
cannot do: interracial dating, drugs, homosexuality, orange hair
or trouble with the law.' "

With interracial dating, Charlie Moshell worried about "culture
clashes, complications for future offspring, things like that."

Although he changed his mind about John dating Kate, "I have
cautioned him about problems getting married," Moshell says.
But "race is not an issue now."

As for the teens themselves, many say they have enough trouble
getting their act together for today, much less planning years
into the future.

Who dates interracially

Have dated someone of another race
All 57%
Whites 47%
Blacks 60%
Hispanics 90%

Have not, but would consider it
All 30%
Whites 36%
Blacks 28%
Hispanics 9%

Would not consider it
All 13%
Whites 17%
Blacks 12%
Hispanics 1%

Based on 496 teens who have dated