Colorblind Love Essay -- Pesronal Narrative Ethnicity Racism Papers

Colorblind Love I met my wife Aretha in the fall of 1997; she had just moved from Portland, Oregon, to my hometown of Portland, Maine. By Christmas we were dating, and before we knew it we were both graduating and heading to Boston for college. We’re now happily married and have a one-year-old baby girl. It sounds like a classic high school sweetheart romance, right? Well, to us, yes. But to many people, we’re â€Å"different†. These people’s views have nothing to do with our love, our relationship, or our daughter. They have to do with race. Yes, I’m talking about the mere color of our skin. My wife is Black and I am White. We’re both Americans, born on the same soil and raised within the same language and popular culture—all variables are equal except for our skin color. Yet many people see us as two entirely different types of people who do not belong together, as if Cupid’s arrows discriminate. Have these bigots ever bothered us? Of course, we’ve been affected in some ways. But overall, we thank them for their ignorance, as our relationship has only grown stronger. For instance, if we’re at the mall and a few people stare at us or point in our direction, we smile and wrap our arms around each other even tighter. A major reason we receive stares and assume special status is not only because of people’s views, but also because we are relatively rare. Slavery was abolished almost 140 years ago and our own parents witnessed the civil rights movement of the 1960’s. So why do interracial marriages still only account for 2.9 percent of all American marriages according to the latest U.S. Census data? Or more specifically, why do Black/White couples like Aretha and me account for only 0.7 percent? Of course there is no simple answer ... ... will approach melting pot status; the blender will grind the vegetables. If my grandchildren ever have to write a paper like this, my hope is that it will document success and the achievement of real racial equality. Works Cited: Randall Kennedy, Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption, Pantheon Books, 2003; Maria Root, Love’s Revolution: Interracial Marriage, Temple University Press, 2001; Maria Root, â€Å"The Color of Love,† The American Prospect, 8 Apr. 2002; Michael Lind, â€Å"Far From Heaven,† The Nation, 16 Jun. 2003; Regan Good, â€Å"Questions for Randall Kennedy: Color Dynamics,† New York Times Magazine, 9 Feb. 2003; â€Å"Racial Patterns Across the United States,† Society, Nov./Dec. 2001; United States Census Bureau, "Interracial Married Couples", 12 Jun 2003, http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/ tabMS-3.pdf.