Let’s take a gander at socially and politically active black men who dated outside of their race.Famed orator, activist and abolitionist Frederick Douglass became one of the nation’s most revered figures during the pre-Civil War and Civil War eras.

MARY MATALIN: Van has, to my mind, retracted your whitelash with what you just said -- No, that we have to not focus totally on the toxic stuff -- OK, but you should, and if you don't you're wrong.After escaping slavery, Douglass turned his attention to the budding abolitionist movement sweeping the North.It wasn’t long before he would pen his first autobiography, .Jones took to Twitter to clarify his remarks writing, “Maybe [my words] didn’t come out right,” and “Of course, First Lady is classically beautiful!I meant how our dark skinned sisters were dissed generations ago.”Now unless I missed something, dark-skinned women are treated as though they’re at the bottom of the beauty standard totem pole.presidential during his address to a joint session of Congress last night, CNN’s Van Jones argued.Trump assumed the moral mantle of the office when he honored Carryn Owens, the widow of the Navy SEAL killed in action during a mission in January.