On the anniversary of Loving Vs. Virginia, I am thankful. I am grateful that my country’s justice system recognizes people of different race and accepts interracial couples. Couples that find strength in each other’s differences and learn from each other is a magnificent thing. If this weren’t the case, I am not sure I would have a chance at existence; many people probably could relate.
I felt both joy and sadness reading this article: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/12/opinion/loving-virginia-50-year-anniversary.html?mcubz=0&_r=0
The article points out some unfortunate hardships some mixed couples have had to overcome because of their different races. It’s a slow race, but we are moving forward. 50 years later and there are many mixed couples out there, although it’s rare to see these couples outside of liberal leaning cities. It makes me happy to see, not because it makes me feel like there are others who could relate to the whole biracial experience, but because it is proof of people loving each other without judgement on their background.
Mixed offspring tend to look more like one race than the other. The side they end up looking more like usually accepts them as their own, even though they may get teased here and there. However, what happens when the person looks like neither race? This person probably gets a lot of “What are you?” and “Where you from?….No not the US, like where are you really from?” comments, like I do. I don’t get mad at people for asking these ridiculous types of questions, but I do wonder why they are necessary. If you are interested in my background, ask me a question like I’m a human, not a spectacle.
I’m half Filipino half white/Jewish. I’ve been told several times that I don’t look Filipina. I’ve been given confused looks for having shirts that have Tagalog on them or for getting excited to eat Filipino food. I’ve had confused looks for telling people I’m Jewish, “I never knew you were Jewish!” “You don’t look Jewish!” Not hateful comments, just strange and unnecessary. I am Jewish, what does it matter what I look like?
This weekend my Filipino friend told me, “I don’t consider you Filipino.” Well, then what am I? Again, just strange comments.
My intent on writing this is just to point out that it is a weird place not looking like anything, not looking like you “belong” to any group. I’m sure as time goes on, there will be plenty more who could relate. Why does it matter what we look like? As human-beings, people want a sense of belonging. Caring too much about what a person looks like vs their experience and who they are is just silly. Filling out government forms that only have the mixed race people as “other” for their race, is just outdated. 1) Why do we even need to ask the question of people’s race? 2) Why does it matter what skin color a person is on these forms?
Hoping to see a future generation of more mixed love.
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