I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wow the power in those words still amaze me...
Now that I am 29 years old and a mother of two I have come to realize on this day how far we have come. Back in 1976 when my parents met in Key West Florida and fell in love. They married 4 months later, it had only been legal for 11 years (1967) when they married. Since my father is black and my mother is white... They still got the stares and the glares from people. Being a interracial married couple down south must have been hard. Well that didn't stop them... They moved to Guam (my mother was stationed there NAVY) and had two girls (My sister and I). As a little girl I remember the stares from people at the store, in the car and pretty much everywhere we went. We would ask "Mommy why are they staring at us?" her response was always "cause they think you are pretty". Wow did that give us big EGO's. Thanks Ma you always made us feel special! Growing up bi-racial had its up's and downs... I remember thinking to myself why can't I have white girl hair ( I had a blonde afro)? Or answering all the questions people had about me or my family. The one that I will never forget was in 2nd grade (1988) I was drawing a picture of my family at Girl Scouts. A little girl sitting next to me said "YOUR MEAN!" glaring at me and I just looked at her wondering why she said that (I was extremely shy as a kid) then she said "Your coloring your Dad like that?". Being 8 years old I was very puzzled about this accusation. I looked at my family photo that I was so proud to draw/color and see my Mom, my sisters (both white w/blonde hair) and my Daddy brown just as he was. I couldn't understand how that made me mean? Thank goodness the little girls mother (the Scout leader) knew her daughter so well and chimed in and said "Charlyne be nice"! Hi Char, yes she ended up being my best friend for the past 20 years. Love you girl! I have heard it all in my school days, most people had no clue I was bi-racial. If I was ever made fun of for it, that is when Char (yes the little girl from girl scouts) stepped in. She became my body guard and if anyone gave me crap she was there to give them a rude wake up call.
As an adult I have learned I am under cover or how you say in disguise. My children are only a quarter black and they are beautiful... I have been teaching my son as he is getting older about our history on my black side. He is very interested in this now. When he was little he did not quite understand where I was coming from when I would tell him I was half black and half white, even when he was around my Dad. It just goes to show that children do not see color! I love that I can read to my son about MLK Jr and teach him how far we have come.
When people stare me down now I just tell myself ok "they either are wondering what I am or wondering how tall I am?" I only respect the people who don't stare and actually ask. I am a bi-racial woman and that is what I consider myself. Now if they would only give me that option when filling out paperwork or going to the social security office (they make you choose one).
Now that it is 2010 and the world is a melting pot it pretty much makes this statement a joke that we can all laugh at or shake our heads in shame.
"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."
How does this special day make you feel?
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