Interview with Alyssa Hunt

1. Where do you live? Saint Louis, MO US

2. What is the make up of your interracial family? Immediate Family: German, Ilatlian(White) and Irish-African-American(Black).

3. What is it that you most enjoy about being a part of an interracial family? I enjoy the blending of ideas, music, food and history.

4. What is your biggest challenge in being part of an interracial family? Our biggest challenge is lifestyle. My husband’s family was a rowdy version of the Cleaver family. My family was a Marine’s version of the Cleavers, issuing swift and well-thought out punishments and my mom worked!

5. What advice would you give others considering an interracial relationship/adoption? Make sure to know your significant other’s ideas on raising children well. We don’t fuss and argue but we definitely clash on what ways are best to reward and punish our little guy and he’s learned to manipulate because of it. I don’t think it’s a race thing more so than a personal thing.

6. If you have children, do they identify as one race, both or something else? Was this something that you helped them with or did they come to this conclusion on their own? When my son, Joshua was four, he asked me why he was white like daddy. I told him that he wasn’t white but a beautiful blend of black and white – tan. I then read a book that I wrote specifically for him when he was a baby! He was very happy and understood. Now he says he’s tan, the best of Mommy and Daddy!

7. Do you look at racism differently now that you are part of an interracial family? My husband has felt the difference more than I ever have. He works in the medical field and hears snide remarks and blatant statements all the time from older veterans. I think it’s actually hurt him to know that people still think so ignorantly of others.

8. What pieces, if any, have you adopted from your spouse/significant other’s/adopted children’s culture? My husband and his family didn’t do much in the cultural department. I think I’ve shown my husband more by my upbringing and ideas. I love history and our next large trip is to Ireland, where I hope to dig up information on my Great Grand-father.

9. If you are part of an interracial couple, do you think being in an interracial relationship is more difficult than being in a same race relationship? I do not believe being in an interracial relationship is any more different than a same race relationship. I’ve always dated other races and my previous marriage was to an African-American. People are people to me and that’s what matters the most. Skin, hair and eye color only matter when having children… like Forrest Gump said, “You never know what you’re gonna get!”

10. What else would you like us to know about your family? My family is strong because we walk together in a blessing from God. My family was gifted so we treat it as such, making sure to teach our son in the ways that are beneficial to his future emotionally and spiritually. We want him to know that he is the best of everything in us and to pass those traits on to his children. All we do is for him and the glory of the One who gave him to us.