Concerns About Multiracial Families Go All The Way To The Top

Written by Alex on March 18, 2015 - 0 Comments

In today’s news, it was reported that Marion Robinson, mother of First Lady, Michelle Obama, had reservations about Mrs. Obama marrying Barack Obama because he was Biracial, and she worried that would make life tougher for them.  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/exclusive-michelle-obama-mom-biracial-marriage-worries-article-1.2153243

This is not an uncommon fear.

However, as a person within a Biracial marriage and family, I can proudly say that such fears are unwarranted.  It does, however, take work so that family members can better understand the issues confronted by the others in the family who are of a different race.

Here’s how we tackled that in our family:

For a day, to simulate the sensation of enjoying White privilege, I did absolutely everything that my wife (who is Black) wanted.  Meantime, simultaneously, my wife spent the day eyeballing me with suspicion, assumed the worst about me, and then complimented me for being “surprisingly articulate for, you know, a person like you.”

Of course, we did none of that.  Because the truth is that while racism is a real problem in this World, the solution is not to give in to that by not marrying people of other races.  Rather, it’s to embrace those who you love, regardless of race, and let those who have a problem with that figure out how to deal with you.

Seems to me, that’s what the President and First Lady have done.  And, kudos to them for that.

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