Excelle

What a great topic this is and I thank ALL of you for your responses.  You have shared very personal experiences and I appreciate that so much.

This can be a touchy subject, but I believe in dealing with things on a very real level.  You all have really shed some light on the subject.  You're all smart and sophisticated and I value all the answers.

~Angie

My ex is a Yemenite whos mothers family originated from Ethiopia. He's not only black, he was of a different religion as well. The first 7 years were the most difficult but not because of the colour, it was the culture, and the religious aspect from his family. My father said it was OK as long as he treated me right, my Mum was a bit worried because she thought the children would be confused not knowing which 'colour ' they were.  All four children are absolutely beautiful, ranging in colour  from white to a lovely shade of    olive.  In the beginning we had a few problems renting flats in London, a few nasty comments, but after the children were born we seemed to suffer less as people seemed to be fascinated with the children who all spoke English with a Welsh accent.    I learned the language when we returned to his country, it took me almost 17 years before I decided to convert, and we jogged along just nicely, he changed a lot, and I changed a lot and we seemed to just meet somewhere in the middle.  I'd be lying if I said it was plain sailing, we moved a lot, and since growing up the children have told me they suffered a lot of flack about  me being a christian in their young days, but amazing as they are they never once mentioned it.  Three of them have since converted because they said they felt unrooted.  End of story we divorced two years ago, but not because of either the  race or the religion,  It was a kind of sudden bush-fire kind of thing, both of us incredibly stubborn , both of us were monogamous all this time, and writing this it sounds like a really debilly thing to get divorced over, but I just could not stand the thought of one of his sisters in our life any longer. She was such a poisonous cow I said to myself "that's it, I can't take another 30 years of her" and that was that.   We still see a lot of each other, wehave got back a lot of the friendship and respect we had kind of lost for each other, but I am really happy to be free even though I don't quite know what to do about it after all this time. I am still feeling my way around.

Good luck, I'd say don't worry, if he is a nice person that's all that counts.  [ there are ..... in every nationality.]

I am a very strong believer in "to each their own." I have never been in an interracial relationship myself but that doesn't mean I wouldn't if it was the right man for me. I have a little girl and if one day she brought home an African American man, my only concern to her would be...Does he make you smile everyday?

My sister was married for 10 years to a worthless, horrible, unloving white man. My parents never had anything bad to say about him, they only saw that he was white and she was married with two kids, like she was supposed to be. I didn't see any of that. I only saw my sister's beautiful shine continue to dull over the years due to her unhappiness.

She is now remarried to an African man that just came to the United States for the first time a year ago!! His original home is Ghana. My sister's shine is brighter than it has ever been. I do not even have to ask her, Does he make you smile? bc it is all over her face.

My parent's were very against this marriage from the start and would continually express their negativity about it whenever and wherever they saw fit. They have finally started to see the amazing changes this African man has brought to my sister's life. My nephews now feel like they have a dad, especially one who is interested in them. My sister says he makes her feel like his African Queen every moment of every day.

If people would just realize that other people's choices are just that...THEIR CHOICES. Look at the positive things the two people are doing for each other, rather than just look at the different skin color. Focus on what really matters...the quality of life, the love & friendship.

Love is color blind.  My husband is half Japanese and I am German & Russian.  My mother-in-law is Japanese and I love having another culture exposed daily!  My kids love it as well.  I have learned so many wonderful things and feel so blessed to be able to have such diversity in my life. 

It's nice to know that more people are accepting of interracial relationships. However, I am one of those who comes from an interracial background, and am married interracially. I am Puerto-Rican/Creole, and my husband is African-American/Creole.

With that being said, I could really care less what standards society has set, or sterotypes there are. I don't care about where I "might or might not" be accepted. I guarantee you we will still go. In this day in age, I feel as though the choices in "color" that I make are really no one else's concern. When I see the older people make the awful looks, I smile, wave, and sometimes ask what's the problem. LOL. I am a very outspoken individual, and will confront issues such as this head-on. To me, it's utterly unacceptable.

I never have been one to really feed into it, or even acknowledge it, because I really don't care, although there are times when I do "bat it out".  I am who I am, I love who I love, and no one can change that. I have encountered situations where I was a direct "victim" of racism, but in the end, I and my husband, and our families are still the ones standing. I firmly believe in "you reap what you sow". I grew up not only interracially, but in the military, so I guess you could say that acceptance was more widespread, even a "standard" persay. I never really cared that people looked or stared, or even talked about it for that matter. Why? Because it's not their business. 

My advice to those who may question it....It shouldn't matter what anyone else, me, or even society should think. If you or even your child loves a man/woman that just so happens to be of another color, SO WHAT!!!  SHE/HE'S STILL A MAN/WOMAN! And that should be the most important factor....I know it may sound like I am babbling, but honestly, why should you care?

Very touchy conversation.....

This is an older topic but none-the-less in 2009, we are still talking about this makes me sad.  Angie, this is the new generation, they do not think like the people born in the 40s or 50s.

I am Belizean-American, did not grow up with racism and when I came to this country, I think I was descriminated against more by blacks than whites, crazy, but true.

I have dated men of all color, whites, blacks, spaniard, they were just men.  I guess I never pay attention to other people's reaction around me, because I am so confident, I have never felt inferior to anyone.  My son is now 21 with a rainbow coalition of friends; that is how he was raised with friends of all color around us.  I am now 52 years old, I was married to 2 black men and I just got married in Sept. 08 to a wonderful man, who happens to be white.  This is also his third marriage; his 2 previous wives are white, but he has always dated women of color and was on a mission to marry outside of his race.  We laugh at the whole race thing, but we also have intelligent discussions about it.  Being a foreigner, my views are very different. My husband and I have a love affair like no other and just celebrated our 3rd year since we first met.

Some of you had some great views; let's leave the small minded people behind.  We are all mixed with something; there is no 100% of any race, at least not in this country.  Let's wish this young couple lots of fun time and a great relationship.