I have been called a whore to my face by a stranger. I have had a friend call my husband and tell him that his wife cheated on him. I have had people look at me, look at my husband, and then my child, and shake their head. I have had more people in my life become people I wouldn't mind seeing ever again, due to the way they view my family. Honestly, it doesn't bother me that they call or say these things to me. What bothers me is the reason they say it. They look at my white husband, my white self, and a black child, and all the sudden they see RACE!
Tonight we went to dinner with my little sister Kate and her boyfriend Art. Art was an extremely nice guy, very polite, and looked at my little sister with adoration. Kate seemed thrilled to have him next to her and they seemed very happy! So, what does this have to do with my previous paragraph? Art is half Spanish, half Mexican.
My little sister married a man who has roots from Spain, is Spanish, and has the last name Gallegos. My little sister is now a Gallegos.
Again, where is this all going? Right here. My family is fortunate to have different races joining our family. We have Spanish and African American now, I love it! My brother said to me on Sunday while we were eating breakfast, "Hopefully when our kids are older, race won't even be a topic. Everyone will be so intertwined, nobody will see color." I thought, what a great goal.
However, as I was sitting at dinner tonight with my sister and her boyfriend, we had a few discussions on race and concerns. It made me realize that race is still a factor for so many people. People hear the word Hispanic, Mexican, Spanish, African American, Black, Indian, Iranian, etc. and automatically will put a label on that person. It bothers me, it bothers me A LOT!
If you want to put a label on someone, fine...put the label on them. But do it for a reason other than the color of their skin or their heritage. Make them a person FIRST! Make a label on them for who they are and how they treat others, not because they have family from Haiti, Mexico, or New York. It truly is so upsetting to me to hear there are people, even within my own family, who are not accepting of people due to RACE!
Life is short, and goes by real fast! I have learned it is to short to determine you are or aren't going to like someone due to color. It is to short to look at someone and make a judgment on them based simply on their heritage. It is to short to decide you don't want to interact with someone based on their RACE!
If people do decide to base someone strictly on another persons race, shame on them! Shame on them for not opening their heart to see what so many different cultures have to offer them. Shame on them for being so judgmental and feeling they are superior to another because they are not the same RACE! Shame on them for missing an opportunity to spend some time with amazing people and missing out just because their skin color doesn't match their own.
For those of you who are accepting, thank you! It is so fun to have a transracial family, and we can not imagine our life any other way. We love having different races within our family, and happily welcome whoever is willing to join this wild bunch of ours, no matter what RACE they may be!
Linds, you said it perfectly! Shame on them! They are the people missing out because they can't get over the color of someone's skin. People are ignorant and sadly, I think there will always be people who judge others because of their color or where they came from. However, just know that there are many people out there who love you and could care less that your skin color doesn't match your son's. All I see is an amazing mother who loves her son just as much as every other mother out there! Thats all that matters!
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