Zina: “Hi my name is Zina and I am the product of an interracial relationship. My father is African American and my mother was (she passed away) white and Spanish. I kind of grew up with my father’s side of the family because my mother’s side of the family lived in another state.”

Zina: “I do see positive and negatives in interracial relationships. I know personally for myself, I don’t think I can do that. I am engaged to an African American male. It has a lot to do with the fact that I’m kind of uncomfortable with interracial relationships. There is the higher possibility that your partner would not really be able to understand or relate to your struggles whether internally or systemically, society kind of has especially right now; our current president and the issues going on in the world, it seems that there is a really bad connotation umm with being black.”

Marguerite: What kind of struggles did you have growing up?
Zina: “I would say the biggest struggle for me growing up was probably identity, um my father everyday would tell me you’re a Burns, you’re black and don’t let no one put their hands on you; he said that to me every day. There was never a time when I did not know I was black, but When it comes to my black family or my black friends a lot of people think it’s funny to um call me white. I don’t have anything against that part of my life or my identity, but for some reason I always take offense to that cause I feel like they are not saying that in a nice manner even though they are “joking” so I would say identity is a big thing.”

Marguerite: What are the struggles you have had in this interracial marriage?
Richard: “I don’t feel I’ve had any struggles, um I’ve worried that my kids would have struggles. I’ve always felt it’s easier for the white male in an interracial relationship, because I don’t think they are judged like a black woman is judged for marrying a white man or a white woman marrying a black man.”

Marguerite: Do you think raising 5 boys of mixed race, do you think they had any struggles identifying with one race or the other?
Richard: “They have never identified that to me, I feel that they probably have to a lesser extent that maybe others have. I know that my second oldest son Andre has said when he was going through high school he did not identify with either side and he was not excepted by either side. The whites did not fully except him even though he had white friends and the blacks would not fully except him even though he had many black friends. My other sons did not express problems with identity. I’ve always wondered if they had confrontation within themselves about their identity.”

Marguerite: Did you ever express to them that they are white or black? Did you just let them figure it out on their own?
Richard: “I never told them that, no. I never felt I needed too. My sons, um when they had problems it was usually standard problems any child would have whether they were white or black. I don’t recall ever having to deal with a racial issue because they were mixed. I think they grew up with pretty much normal lives.”

 
Guess Who's coming to dinner Speech: https://youtu.be/d6QiEqWcYrA

Timeline PowerPoint:
https://www.thoughtco.com/interracial-marriage-laws-721611

Qian, breaking the latest taboo: interracial marriage in America ,https://new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/695448.pdf
http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/miscegenation-story-racial-intimacy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/31/cheerios-commercial-racist-backlash_n_3363507.html

https://youtu.be/uGQBl0W7bb8

http://www.ozy.com/flashback/the-forgotten-era-of-punjabi-mexicans/65005