Don’t use Tyler James Williams to promote your foolishness because he’ll find the time to get you together. That’s exactly what he did when one Black man decided to jump out there on Twitter and use Tyler’s interracial relationship as an example of why he believes that more Black men need to abandon Black women.
Some bum on Twitter decided that he was going to tell Black men that they all need to date white women with the raggedy argument that the “grass is greener & more beautiful on the other side.” He typed this while being every bit of the negative stereotypes that he labeled Black women.
Then he decided to tack Tyler’s picture to the vision board supporting his super-ashy argument. And that is when Tyler had to step in and correct him. “The grass ain’t greener nowhere,” Tyler tweeted in response. “You’ve got a problem w black women cause you a weak ass man, fam.”
His dating history aside, Tyler said a lot in just a few lines. And the message that came across loud and clear was “don’t loop me into your bullsh*t and leave Black women out of it, too.”
Tyler did make the faux pas of using ethnicity and race interchangeably, but here’s what I appreciate about his response. He showed up for Black women. So often, we assume that if a person is not dating within their race, then they must not care about their counterparts within it. What Tyler did was show everyone that isn’t the case–at least not with him. He showed that one does not have to bash Black women if they aren’t currently with a Black woman.
Sadly, we have seen examples that women of other races use some Black men’s willingness to bash Black women as a form of validation that they are supposedly a superior choice based on their skin color. Tyler setting the record straight on why he dates who he dates undercuts that notion because it focuses on the personal connection rather than a lack of Blackness. More than that, Tyler showed that basing your romantic choices on played out stereotypes (that could just as easily be applied against you) is a flimsy reason to exclusively date out. And that logic reveals a lot about the shortcomings of someone who subscribes to these ideas.
Most of all, Tyler let that everyone know that one Black man’s decision to date a non-Black woman should have nothing to do with Black women in general.
