Miscere Genus

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:50:45 +0000

“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

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:45:24 +0000

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

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:19:24 +0000

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.

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:06:33 +0000

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.

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:04:51 +0000

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

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:00:31 +0000

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

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:22:12 +0000

Creativity!

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:03:02 +0000

Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:37:19 +0000

One of the most influential anti-miscegenation laws was the Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924. It stated that “It shall hereafter be unlawful for any white person in this state to marry any save a white person, or a person with no other admixture of blood than white and American Indian” (Racial Integrity Act). In order for two people to be married it had to be proven that both were of pure white blood. American Indian blood was allowed, but if the person had more than one-sixteenth, which is 6.25%, of American Indian blood, there were not deemed Caucasian. The true motive of Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 was not to conserve the history and the culture of the races but to maintain the supremacy of whites and the economic and social inferiority of blacks.

Dilemma

trudutchess — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:24:27 +0000

I needed someone to talk to. And the only person that I felt like I could tell was my best friend Alice.

“Alice, I don’t know what he sees in me! I aint nothing like dem girls he use to datin’. Do you think that he really loves me? He told me so. Maybe it’s a joke?”

“Elizabeth, I don’t know. My momma told me to neva trust a man, especially a smilin, nice, and handsome white man. That’s what happened to my cousin Michelle last year. She went off with this white boy that she met in college, talkin bout they gone get married. He used her, then left her on the side of the road. Thank god a nice white lady picked her up and gave her a lil money so she could come home. Momma say all they wanna do is use ya. I don’t know Liz. I don’t trust em.”

“Alice, it aint the 1950′s no mo. It’s the 60′s. It’s not the same as it was with our parents. And that white boy probably didn’t love your cousin, as much as John loves me!”

“You weren’t even sure a second ago if he loved you or not, Liz.”

“I don’t know Alice. I can feel a tearing in my soul, there is constant turmoil. I don’t know what to do, or who to choose. It’s like an ultimatum, my family or him. Why does it have to be that way? Every time me and him go some where together, people just stare. The other day this white gurl asked me why where we talking all of their men! I don’t know if I am strong enough. I’m just sick and tired of it Alice, sick and tired.”