By Angelice Romero |Staff Writer|

Apparently there are not as many interracial couples in the San Bernardino county and at CSUSB.

I heard it was partially because people like to stick to their own, although San Bernardino is a racially diverse city.

I think people should not rule out dating someone outside their race and everyone should try dating a different ethnicity at least once in their life.

Sophomore Sandy Arevalo, feels that dating outside your race is interesting because she gets to learn a different culture.

Sandy, who is Mexican-American is currently dating a Caucasian guy.

The issue she originally had was the language barrier between her parents and her current boyfriend.

“My parents wanted me to be with a tradition same race type of relationship but I’m not really into that. I’ve tried before but there’s no connection,” said Arevalo.

There seems to be no apparent racial tension here at CSUSB, but people do not like to date out of their race which is odd for this day and age.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, Households and Families Survey, there are 5.4 million interracial and inter-ethnic opposite-sex married couples.

Being that we live in California, which is a very racially diverse state, we should have more interracial couples.

Surprisingly, only 12.8 percent of California marriages are interracial.

Student Shanieka Perrier said she was in an interracial relationship about a year back, but she does see many couples on campus, let alone interracial couples.

A few years ago the racial tension between Mexicans and African Americans was intense.

“About 20-30 years ago, a black guy couldn’t walk down the street alone. They had to travel in groups,” said Perrier.

This maybe is one of the deciding factors for the shortage of interracial couples on campus.

Being in an interracial relationship myself, I find it fascinating to learn about another race.

I understand that many families are not exactly encouraging about someone dating outside their race.

This should not be a deciding factor when choosing to date someone who isn’t the same ethnicity as you.

One male student said he has been in many interracial relationships and he would rather date ethnicities other than his own.

“I’m white but I’ve dated other ethnicities because it is interesting to get a new perspective on different cultures,” he said.

“I just love the darker skin tone versus my own but it’s more than that, women of different cultures have a sense of pride that white girls I know don’t have. I’m a prideful Irish guy who would want to date a women who has pride for her race.”

Integrating is inevitable and there are people in our country who don’t know their ethnicity, because they are children of biracial couples but this does not mean the culture and its traditions will be lost.

Never judge a book by its cover and never shut yourself off from a good thing.