I recently blogged about people staring at us and I kept saying, “What are they staring at???” My little girl told me to get over it because they do it all the time.
It’s true – in the south, it’s a huge issue. We get stared at everywhere … and yes when you’re eating, it’s the worst!
Here is an e-mail I recently received from a friend in Mississippi:
“A couple years ago I worked at a liquor store owned by an Indian man. One day he had me run to wal-mart to pick up some things for the store. His daughter, who was about 7 years old, wanted to go with me.
So I’m walking through the store and I notice ppl giving me these looks. They’re looking at me like I’m licking a dirty diaper or something. I mean they look absolutely disgusted. I’m glancing at my clothes and stuff, wondering if maybe I got something in my teeth or hanging out my nose.
I’m going crazy wondering what is wrong with me. Then all the sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks. They thought that girl was my daughter!
It gave me a little insight into what families like yours go through. It was pretty amazing.”
Finally… someone who is able to corroborate what interracial families say all the time – since no one sees life the way we see it, people tend to believe we blow it out of proportion.
We don’t.
Yes, life can be tough for interracial and international couples but much more thorough!
I am also the mother of a racially blended family, We live in West Virginia and this is where I had my children and raised them until they were 8 and 12. At that time I got remarried to a man that I met here in WV who was from East Texas, we moved to East Texas shortly after we were married. I only lasted there a year. I have never had a problem getting a job, I am an educated woman. In this small town my children and myself were treated like we were dirt under their feet. It was a terrible experience that I don’t ever want to experience again. Not only were the White citizens of this town very racist towards us but the Black citizens treated us much in the same way.
I am sorry I should have clarified that no one would hire me in that area. I finally had to drive 55 miles away to get a job and a month after I started working there my husband had to pick up my car for some repairs and brought my children with him. After they saw that my children were bi-racial I was treated very differently.
I am really sorry you were treated that way. It is very diificult to be the only faces of diversity in a small community. I hope your family stayed intact and grew stronger.