In 1967, marrying someone of different race was finally legalized. It didn’t matter if you were white, black, Asian, or Latino, the government realized that love is love and that they have no right to tell you who you can and cannot be with.
It is now 2017, and interracial couples are everywhere. It is more than normal and no one thinks twice when seeing a couple who is racially different. However, there is still a lot of discrimination in this world and many people do not realize it until they experience it.
I am a Latina and I am currently in an interracial relationship. Even though I have been in plenty of relationships prior, this one is a little different. For the first time, I was told that his parents were extremely racist. I was told horror stories about their opinions on people of color and how they think that “[People of color] all go around and shoot people”, “[People of color] are all poor and are criminals” and many other completely ignorant comments.
As I said, we live in a time where interracial relationships are normal. However, just because something is widely accepted does not mean everyone accepts it. These people do not hate purely because they love to hate. This hatred come from years and years of learning these ideas from various mentors and authority figures. However these people are not lost causes. Meet them. Talk to them. Educate them. Show them that they are wrong because the only thing that can stop racism, both in relationships or in general, is educating the ignorant.
A while ago, a close and personal friend of mine met a guy. Her family was from Mexico and his from Afghanistan. These families ended up hating each other. After being together, this couple had a baby. The hatred did not stop. Despite that they started to learn about each other. Her family learned that they love Afghan food. His family learned spanish. They both learned that even though they are different, they both shared strong family values and work ethic. That couple is no longer together, however, the families are still very good friends and they still consider each other family.
Education can change the world and sometimes it takes being the bigger person and educating those who you disagree with to show them that they might be wrong. Many people of color do not believe it is their job to educate the ignorant – and they are right. However, when someone doesn’t understand, teaching them is the only way to change them. In 1967, only 4% of Americans approved of interracial couples. The supreme court dismissed the opinions of the other 96% and after 50 years, people have been educated, which is why approval has skyrocketed. Let’s keep educating. Let’s keep switching people’s opinions. Let’s keep moving our country into a positive and accepting direction.