Now that's an interesting question.

I'm sure we're not wired to dislike people of different races so the potential is there from the start.

Personally I was brought up in Africa and although I have only fleeting memories there are plenty of photos which show a happy child in the company of African children and adults. Also I had a difficult birth and my mother and I owe our lives to the skill of an African nurse. My mother remained in contact with her for the rest of her life.

All this disposed me positively towards black people and through that more generally towards people who looked different from me. Subsequent experience has shown me that people are very similar wherever I have been.

What do you think? What's your experience?

For me there is no cut and dry answer to your question. But here's where I'm coming from...

Weeell I was born in Africa but came to England around six and I can't remember my first reaction at meeting white folks but I was kicked out of two kindergartens for being too violent against the other kids who were all white. We lived in Leeds which at the time made me the only African kid in our area. My maladjustment had more to do with the fact that I didn't speak English more than anything and the fights were cos' I thought that the other kids were talking about me, I felt the outsider and truly hated being taken away from everything I had known.

We soon after moved to London where I got to see heaps and heaps of other cultures. My first crush was on a white boy called Terry he used to show off on his chopper!
In all honesty colour was never an issue where attraction was concerned. I was a late bloomer and my first boyfriends were all black but culturally different from me. I've always been a misfit in any crowd, growing up. In Primary and Secondary school I was the only african girl in my class even in north London! Note - I said African not Black.
I was always considered weird cos' I didn't fit in or liked things that I wasn't supposed to like - opera, punk, sci-fi books, comics etc etc. I was officially also an egg-head.
My Secondary school was like 80% Caribbean. 15% white and 5% other.

I had a bestfriend who was white and she liked all things black, especially boys. She became my comfort zone in a sea of bullies, whereas I was the do-goody she was a blaze. I loved her. The funny thing is I was considered a bounty/coconut for not conforming to type and she was considered 'cool' for being different. Whatever...

I've always had an eclectic mix of friends but I never went out with a white guy until Uni. When I did we got engaged then married soon after. In all honesty the colour question was never an issue for us, he's as oddball as I am and I think that's what counts. Up to now we've informed ourselves about our differences and embrace our similarities. Thunder and lightnening still occurs but what the hey!

To my way of thinking we're kindred spirits and that has nothing to do with colour. My friends are as diverse as they come and the only reason I can relate to them or love them is cos we are of a ' kind' , something unites us other than the obvious.

Hmmm. Well coming from a Mexican background I was always around brown people. Lol. I always knew that I had crushes on my cousins or uncles or like that. We also grew up in the 'barrio' where my friends were mostly latino. There were some white kids in school too and also black kids but mostly latino.

I first realized that I was really attracted to black men when I moved to DC. Just beautiful and real in a way that I also could understand.