Can Young African Americans Have Caucasian, Asian, And Hispanic Mentors?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

I was listening to the most fascinating dialogue on urban radio a few days ago. It was on 94.5 on the dial in the Orlando area. They play rhythm and blues music. I forgot the names of the hosts but they come on in the afternnon. They basically said anbody of any race can be a good mentor to anybody and they begged their listeners to call in and disagree with them. And to my surprise some did.

[Phoonzang]

1. I'm black and had a Korean lady as a mentor...

But the again, my family was upper middle class and I went to school with children of every ethnicity imaginable. I'm sure that makes a difference.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. It Was Great

The hosts were being provocative.

When I was younger I mentored at risk kids of all races.

[Kahuna]

3. Of course they can. Although, as a black person I'm not surprised

that some did not feel that way. Some have just been conditioned to not think so because they've had limited contact with other races.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. I Didn't Want To Put It In My Original Post

But they were saying in many cases the African American man is not there and if an African American woman wants to marry a caucasian, Asian, Hispanic man and let that man help her raise her children that's fine. I didn't want to open that can of worms but they did.

They were saying if you would rather your children had no male figures than one of a different race you need to check your attitude.


I had this most interesting converation with this African American young man who must have been in his late twenties. We were talking about faith and he was telling me how he became a Christaian through the witness of some African American women he knew. He said if it was African American men he wouldn't have been swayed as most of the male figures in his life weren't there.

[HipChick]

6. It's a very americentric POV..

Inter-racial marriages are very common in europe, no one bats an eyelid and could not give 2 hoots..conditioning..yep

[tango-tee]

5. Young African-Americans can even have Caucasian mothers.

I am one of them.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. The Radio Hosts Were

The radio hosts were mostly speaking to women who already had kids.

But their attitude was really refreshing.

[Cirque du So-What]

8. I'm a white guy who had a Hispanic professor as a mentor

He was brilliant to the point that many people misunderstood him as being haughty, but he refused to 'dumb down' his conversations for anyone. His schedule revolved around attending mass daily, and it was pointless to ask for any deviation from his routine. He was a child of the depression who managed to contribute to his family's resources through a scrap-metal business he put together on a shoestring. As a post-doc, he contributed to development of the metallic housing for the H-bomb. He fought vested interests who were trying to build an incinerator in our community, drawing fire from the high and mighty who tried to get him fired from the university.

Despite our many differences in upbringing, in culture & in values (although some of these we shared), our relationship was productive and beneficial for both of us. I believe the mentor/protege relationship can benefit from the participants having disparate backgrounds, as it brings a whole array of experiences into play that a more homogeneous pairing could never produce.