Recently, I was a part of a conversation where a person made a comment that the topic of mixed race relationships was not a prevalent issue anymore. Maybe that person meant it wasn’t newsworthy subject matter, but either way, I respectfully disagree.
The individual who made the statement was not in any way being callous or rude. They like anyone else have a right to an undiluted opinion and in light of recent years, it would be accurate to say that the United States has made tremendous progress in the charge to abolish racism and the color barrier.
At this point in time the issue is not about two people of different races being in a relationship; you won’t find many people that will openly oppose that now. The issue is the way other people view them and how that has an effect on these couples.
Racial biases are not dead – plain and simple. It is alive and well, only it doesn’t don the appearance of a white hood anymore; that hood has now donned the color red.
Every so often we will see racism rear its head in courtrooms, audio recordings, even in innocent Cheerios commercials. A mindset that has the capability of imposing harm and societal disadvantage on a specific classification of people cannot and should not be considered a non-issue. Ever.
Will the war against racism ever be won? The answer is probably not, but it can be diminished over time. As Americans we each have the right to our own personal opinions and I don’t believe that right should be taken away from anyone, no matter how strongly I disagree with their ideologies. However, I believe that the greatest disservice you can perform for such a prolonged and controversial conflict is to take it lightly, or better yet, pretend it doesn’t still exist.