Thursday, June 12, 2008
Happy Loving Day!
Happy Loving Day!
from wikipedia.
I know I'm lucky to live in an urban center on the West Coast where such multi-racial families are so prevalent. I have many friends who are kids of such relationships, or in a relationship of such themselves. It doesn't seem like a big deal to me. But, I am totally white myself (whatever that means, really) and married a very pasty white guy. Our kids are really white. In fact, my youngest has white-blond hair (he's a novelty to my Brazilian friends). I am not naive enough to assume we no longer struggle with this issue in America.
I was also encouraged by the fact that one of the current presidential candidates is a product of a mixed-race marriage himself. If we as a nation could put up for election a mixed-race man with black heritage (which I think is still harder for our country to swallow than, say, mixed-race Asian couples....but feel free to beat me up in the comments if you disagree!), then we have come far, indeed.
Along these same lines, the Forbes Most Powerful Celebrities list is topped by a black woman - Oprah Winfrey. She is followed by Tiger Woods, who has a multi-racial ethnicity. The top ten is pretty mulit-ethnic...but with the exception of Woods, I don't see any other Asian celebrities listed. Latin/Hispanics are under-represented as well, with Alex Rodriguez being the only member of the top 25. So I'm encouraged by this news, but realize we still have a ways to go.
So, what do you think? Are you in a "mixed-race" relationship? Are you the child of a "mixed-race" couple? What have your experiences been? Have we come a long way? How far do we have left to go?
Who am I?
Comments
you changed your pic! it looks fab.
Posted by: Shona | June 13, 2008 10:42 AM
Yes, I am in a mixed-race relationship. I hail from the Tribe of Cyclists and my spouse resides in Auto-Nation (with the rest of the country). We have a long ways to go as a nation towards the acceptance of cyclists. I often get honked at, flipped off, and or yelled at and the northwest is rated as one of the best “cyclist friendly” areas in the US. I have heard many stories of how it’s much worse in other parts of the country. The northwest has a good start on an infrastructure for cyclists, but still has a long ways to go. Other parts of the country have done nothing to build infrastructure for cyclists.
I know this post is off topic and does not even come close to black vs. white. More people in the US watch bowling, ping pong, and fishing, than cycling so my cause is very low on the relevancy scale. I understand that in a country where only .5 percent of all trips are made by bicycle cyclist are not going to gain acceptance any time soon. I do believe cycling can help our country in many ways such as reducing traffic, reducing health care costs, reducing fuel consumption, and it can bring happiness. We would all be in such a good mood since we would be on natural endorphin highs (except for the bike messengers, they would still use unnatural substances for highs).
Back to your question (sort of) we have come a long ways in some areas and as you point out your buddy is running for president and that should be considered a mark of progress (go McCain!) But I think each of us has areas where we struggle with acceptance of what we don’t understand, have not experienced, don’t feel comfortable with, or don’t agree with.
PS: Leah, I hope you are having a good day!
PSS: Just remember any distance is biking distance.
Posted by: Gordon | June 23, 2008 09:32 PM