What is Black Love?

Over the holiday, I had dinner with two good girlfriends of mine, one of whom recently got engaged to her boyfriend. She's Black, he's White. Her good news, along with the most recent installment of Soledad O'Brien's Black in America series on CNN brought to the forefront a question I've been pondering since we started this blog - What exactly is Black Love and how is it defined? (For the record, O'Brien's recent special asked the question, Who is Black in America?  For more, click here to read CNN's In America blog.)

Last spring, Johnny and I had a delicious brunch at Miss Shirley's Cafe in Baltimore. Emphasis on delicious.  It was a quadruple date (plus two of us couples brought our children - it was brunch, after all) with my cousin and her then-fiancé-now-hubby, and two other couples. Part of the meal was spent cheerfully discussing how the engagement went down as well as their wedding plans. During the course of the conversation, the question about the meaning of Living Black Love came up again. My cousin wasn't sure if her relationship was considered Black Love because her guy isn't African-American (he's biracial - White and Puerto Rican). My first thought (and statement, if I remember correctly) was, you're Black, and even if he's not, it is Black Love.

Right?

So, whaddya say? Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts.