It’s 2014. Why Can’t Interracial Relationships Just Be “Relationships”?

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I am not in an interracial relationship. I have never been in one. I doubt I ever will be in one.

That does not take away from the fact that I am an avid supporter of each person’s right to pursue this type of relationship. I hate the fact that I still have to designate this a ‘type’ of relationship but for my purposes it is helpful; it proves that there are people who do see these types of romantic relationships as “different” somehow. And I am appalled by the fact that anyone has the gall to criticize another person for being romantically involved with someone just because said significant other is not the same race.

Race is a social construct. It is a means of demeaning people. It was derived for colonization purposes. It is a way to say that there is a superior group. It is a means of distinguishing between them and us. This is what race is.

Race is not a biological category. It is a scientific fact that people of different races often share more biological components than people of the same race. Race has nothing to do with biology and everything to do with bigotry.

The Cheerios commercial that aired during the Super Bowl featuring an interracial family received more backlash than I could have predicted. In all honesty, the reactions that it garnered made me ashamed to be a white American. We were presented with a pleasant American family, an adorable little girl, and an obviously caring father, and yet people had the audacity to actually contribute such horrid comments to YouTube that the option to comment had to be removed. The word “disgusting” does not even begin to cover it.

Meanwhile, there are families around this country who are not interracial where abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and other horrid conditions prevail and yet we are really taking the time and effort to criticize people because they are married despite the fact that they have different skin colors. Have we really fallen that far from grace?

Instead of seeing interracial relationships as an abomination, why not see their existence as proof that not all humans are destined to conceive of such relationships as wrong? Let’s see it as a testament to the fact that despite differences, we are all people and some have evolved enough to recognize this fact. Those in interracial relationships and those that support them have evolved enough to see the truth. We all feel, we all love, we all want love, we all laugh, we all cry, we all triumph, and we all fail.

These are the people who see that. These are the people that we should admire. Admire for their courage to endure the hatred of others. Admire for the fact that they were the ones who were clearly able to see past color in a world where color still matters for many.

What a wonderful world it would be if everyone could do the same.