The other night, Steve and I were watching Without Prejudice, a TV show on the Game Show Network. The show's premise has a five-person panel which chooses one winner from among five strangers to receive a prize of $25,000. The five contestants reveal information about themselves and their background and are voted off one at a time based on their personal story.
The show was only mildly interesting until one woman on the show said this with noticeable force:
"I don't agree with interracial marriage. I just don't."
Now I thought I had seen and heard everything on TV, but that woman's statement came as quite a shock to my system. I was just blown away by the fact that some people actually feel that strongly against interracial marriage. Later, out of curiosity, I did some research online, and found that the last of many U.S. anti-miscegenation laws was repealed in 1967. You read that correctly - 1967. Only forty years ago. And people like the woman on Without Prejudice still have those same sentiments today. Unbelievable.
My being in a relationship with a white man has never crossed my mind as something that others might view as a moral issue along the same lines as abortion or gay marriage.
Maybe it's because I grew up in Hawaii, where many of my friends were of amazingly unique mixes of heritage, and interracial marriages are commonplace. Maybe it's because so many of my friends are in interracial relationships. Maybe it's because I have yet to encounter anyone among family, friends and even strangers who is anything less that supportive and celebratory of our marriage.
I love my interracial marriage, and the ways our different cultures and ethnic identities shape the relationship. Being a Chinese woman married to a white man has brought all sorts of joys, challenges, adventures, differences, and laughter into my life, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Plus, you know, we are going to have some seriously cute kids someday.
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hey i thought the same thing when i saw the show. then i was doing some research of my own tonight and i'm realizing that it's a whole different world down there in the "bible" belt. check out some of what this christian site is selling. it looks fine from the front but as you dig deeper... wow. people really think that way! i guess part of me is glad we piss people off. and yes our kids will be very, very cute (but that's more your doing than mine).
ReplyDeleteDude. You have to ask Natalie about the squirrel speech she got from her Grandparents when she was a kid.
ReplyDeleteI'm proud of you guys and your cute kids to come.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day (now that I'm 37!) Oprah and Phil Donahue use to do shows featuring those crazy people. I got so frustrated watching them. They always talked about color, yet no one addressed the fact that there are different cultures within each color, too. In my mind, same color marraige is still mixed up. The debate is endless and exhausting. Moving on to cute kids...growing up in Hawaii, I was always jealous of the cute Hapa kids. Now I'm proud to have two of my own little Irish-German-China girls (+who knows what else) Can't wait to see yours...and when will that be?
ReplyDeleteYes, I support and celebrate you guys and our eventual grandchildren. And yes, hard to believe that it was not too long ago when there was not general acceptance of interracial marriages. In Hawaii it is more commonplace today but when I was growing up it was still not the preference by certain family members, even though that was the growing trend. Love you.
ReplyDeleteSteve - the t-shirts section of the website is messed up.
ReplyDeleteAunty Julee - who knows...maybe a year or two. Our close friends just had twins, and babysitting those little guys is quite enough for now :)
bring on the cute kids!
ReplyDeleteLarissa-You are 100% right about your comments about interracial marriage. We are so happy that you are part of our family. I thought it was really neat how you guys blended in your two different cultural backgrounds into your marriage ceremony and reception. And I agree with Becky-bring on the cute kids;but only when you're ready. Rick-
ReplyDeletePersonally, I agree with that woman's views. I am also in favor of rampant inbreeding and oppose the refrigeration of food.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Taiwanese American, and my wife is Irish/German in heritage, and we think our hapa kids are pretty cute!
ReplyDeletewhite chick married to black dude here. we've experienced rejection first hand and all it has done is grown our marriage deeper. yes, you will have cute kids (speaking from experience:)) and, yes, it is super fun being in an interracial marriage. i agree with everything you said. i often tease my "same-race-marriage" friends, "what do y'all talk about all day? where's the spice?" most importantly, we find our interracial marriage provides much fodder for jokes! (we love to laugh.) by the by, we live in the Bible belt and my husband is a Protestant Pastor. while there are some that disapprove, there are many more that love and receive us. after 12 years together, what we've learned is that most people fear what they don't understand. we used to just flip people off, but now we understand our family has an opportunity to exemplify unity and acceptance. after all, my parents "it was wrong," too. i enjoy your blog. you are a cutie.
ReplyDeleteOK, so I stumbled upon this post just now, even though it's three years old. Just want to say nice job! You were only dreaming of this back then, but now you are proud parents of quite possibly the cutest 1-year-old boy I've never met. :) Woohoo! Oh, and children aside, I also like what you had the say about the interracial marriage stuff.
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