Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

“I believed I saw everything important they did, and based on what I saw I could imagine what I didn’t: how exotic they were, how driven. Like dangerous children. It never occurred to me that they were thinking other thoughts, feeling other feelings, putting their lives together in ways I never dreamed of.” (221)

I came to the conclusion that I don’t care what anybody says. His skin color may be different from mines. We may have different cultures. But there is something that unites me to him. I don’t know what it is. We must have something in common. Its us against the world.

Against

 

 

If the sun shuts down and decided not to shine no more
I would still have you, baby
If we see the last day and they say we gotta go to war
I’ll be fighting with you, baby
Cuz I know if I’m falling, you won’t let me hit the ground
If the boat is sinking, I know you won’t let me drown

No matter what anyone could say
This is the only place for me
And no one could ever take that away
Nothing could come between us

Memories

The stories of rape, and being taken advantage of, have been like a dark cloud covering and masking the beauty that interracial coupling can be. Because of this, black people who are in relationships with people outside of their race are sometimes criticized in the black community, especially by the older generation who were raised in the years of segregation, and institutionalized racism. These critical thoughts about interracial marriages, especially with those who are white, have been passed down from generation to generation. These oral stories of being battered, and hurt, and being used, are a part of the African American culture. People may get the notion that only those people who are white don’t believe in interracial relationships. But that same belief is embedded in African Americans. Even today, when my cousins come around the family with a white man, or a white woman, even though white blood runs in our veins, my aunties and uncles are still critical.

Are We That Different?

The Lovings Part Two.

In Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court, in a 9 to 0 vote declared Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statue, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, unconstitutional. Another significant anti-miscegenation law, Pace v. Alabama, which in 1883, the United States Supreme Court declared that Alabama’s anti-miscegenation law was constitutional, was overturned by the decision in Loving v. Virginia. Even more, this case put an end to all restrictions on marriage that were based on race, in the United States. Mildred Loving and Richard Loving made an example for all to follow. They fought against the odds, and won. They fought for their love, and never let anything or anyone, not even the law, keep them from being together.

We are not that different.

I’m so in love baby
I don’t care what your mama say
Standing in love lady
And I don’t care what your sister say
Yo badu I need ya

But then when I was with him, oh when I was with him, I was so happy. Before, it would feel as if I had burning, rust in my throat, a need for my thirst to be quenched. But when he would look into my eyes, and hold me, I would feel an instant gushing of moisture that started in my mouth and ran down my throat, into my belly. He was my own little waterfall, my nourishment. I needed him for me to grow. I needed him for me to live. I could feel his energy seeping into every one of my pores, my solar energy.

 

The Lovings

In 1967, there was a landmark case that changed everything about interracial marriages. Mildred Loving, an African American woman, and Richard Loving, a Caucasian man, were married in 1958, in the District of Columbia. They were originally from Virginia, but Virginia had in place the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which banned interracial marriages. Upon their return to Virginia they were charged with violating the law. In 1959, they were found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison.  In 1963 they moved to the District of Columbia. They decided to file a lawsuit against the state of Virginia, which made its way all the way to the United States Supreme Court.

I’m so in love baby
I don’t care what your brothers say, no
I’m so in love baby
I don’t care what the people say

Ankh