After the recent shootings, a black man who is dating a white girlfriend wrote Slate’s Dear Prudence column wondering whether he should break up with his girlfriend whom they have been taking marriage with. The girlfriend told him that “…she couldn’t have a black baby in this world. She is too afraid.”

Much as we cannot generalize because of the above, this is not the first incident of its kind. Ebony magazine put up an article last year by a white man married to a Haitian woman who said: “I Hope My Son Stays White,” explaining if their child is light skinned, he or she wont have to deal with racism. He went…

“I want my son’s skin color not to matter, but the truth is that it does. If he gets darker – if his skin eventually comes to resemble my wife’s more than mine – there will be consequences for him. People will fear him… It will only be worse if he wears a hoodie and sags his jeans, and so shamefully I also hope that he’ll be “culturally white,” following the trends of the suburbs and not the inner city.

If he does darken, women will cross the street when they see him coming, the way they sometimes do when they pass my wife’s brother on the sidewalk. Convenience store employees will follow him suspiciously around the aisles. Cops may hassle him for things I don’t think twice about, like jaywalking.

And, if any of these people decide they need a gun to defend themselves against my scary, black, unarmed son, a large segment of society will assume he deserved to die.

That’s what troubles me so much about the Michael Brown case. His death is tragic, but it’s the reaction to his death that makes me afraid for my son.”

A black and white lesbian couple also had a similar issue. The white partner wanted them to use a white sperm donor. “She says, adamantly, we should try our best to use a white sperm donor. My wife isn’t racially prejudiced at all, but she makes the point that it is a known fact that in this world, especially in Texas where we live, it is a lot easier to be white. Especially if we have a son, it is factually safer to not be black . . .,” said the black partner.

Also, there was a case of a woman who sued a sperm bank for “wrongful birth” because they accidentally sent her a black man’s sperm instead of the white one she had ordered. The child she referred to as a “wrongful birth” is their mixed race daughter. She argued that she and her white partner don’t possess the “cultural competency” to assist their mixed race daughter with typical African American features to cope with the challenges of racial segregation and prejudice in her “all-white community” and “often unconsciously insensitive family.”

Is this becoming a thing for interracial couples (especially black-white couples) who are planning to have children? Are interracial couples afraid of raising black looking children for fear of anticipated prejudice and violence against their mixed race children? If you are an interracial couple, does this bother you?

The post Are Interracial Couples Afraid of Bringing Biracial Children Into This World? appeared first on Love is all colors.

These days, there are examples of high achievers from interracial households everywhere you look. The President of the United States, the most powerful man on the planet, is the child of a Kenyan and an American of British descent.

He has talked many times about what kind of an influence this had on his formative years. He has also been forced to defend his lineage many more times, but the fact still remains that there is an interracial man in the White House – the days when interracial children were afforded fewer opportunities than children from white households are, fortunately, long gone.

This guide to the top five big benefits of raising a child in an interracial household will help you get to grips with any doubts you may have about creating a thoroughly modern family.

1. Interracial Parents Invest More
To combat a social stigma which is sometimes imagined and sometimes not, studies have shown that interracial parents invest more in education, home learning resources, extracurricular activities, and enrichment projects. They know that their children may look and feel different to their classmates, so they spend more time teaching them why this is the case, and on getting them actively involved in dance, drama, and sports clubs after school to make sure that they fit in and participate.

2. Multiracial Kids Are More Relaxed
According to another study from the Journal of Social Issues, multiracial children grow up to be psychologically tougher and will experience less stress than their peers. This appears to be the case even if their friends are white. The theory then, is that kids who identify with more than one racial group find it easier to adapt to varying cultural environments; instead of ‘standing out,’ they naturally adapt to fit the situation.

3. They Are More Tolerant Towards Others
It should come as no surprise to find that interracial children are among some of the friendliest and most tolerant of all. Whilst many youngsters struggle to define their own morals and ethics as they traverse an ethically murky world, interracial children already know that there is no difference between white and non-white, because they interact with both races.

4. They Are Exposed to Richer Cultural Resources
It is also true that children raised in interracial households grow up exposed to all the benefits and advantages of a culturally rich and culturally diverse environment. They live in mixed neighborhoods, uphold varied family traditions and customs, and may even get the chance to grow up speaking two different languages. They are a clear indication of the reality that not only can different races coexist, they can do so within a single home.

5. They Have Great Role Models
As already mentioned, Barack Obama is a child of two cultures. The same goes for a whole host of inspiring names and faces, from Halle Berry to Nicole Sherzinger, Rashida Jones, Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Alba, Idris Elba, Tiger Woods, and many more. For interracial children looking for role models, the world is a very inspiring place right now.

The post Five Big Benefits of Raising a Child in an Interracial Household appeared first on Love is all colors.