Category: Culture

I guess that I’m going to have to edit my previous posts about interracial marriage now that the Asian American Journalists Association has spoken. They are offended that the thug who massacred all of the innocents at Virginia Tech was referred to as Asian. If the racial divisions in our culture are ever going to be broken, it’s going to have to begin with recognizing that our race is a part of who we are. To say that you don’t see race not only makes you a liar but it diminishes the person on whom you are looking by not recognizing the fullness of their being.

This Associated Press article was making the rounds of the net news over the past couple of days and appeared in the Denver papers Friday. It makes the case that, while interracial marriages were out of favor for much of the history of the U.S., the increasingly diverse population of the country has made these unions much more common.

While the trend toward racially mixed marriages is on the rise, they have not grown any easier. I have been married to my lovely Asian wife for twenty four years and it hasn’t always been easy. There can be familial difficulties and  challenges with entire groups who disapprove. The children of these marriages face an additional challenge in choosing how they will racially identify. Our son has decided to be Asian but could just as easily identify otherwise. I’m happy to see that he didn’t shy away from that choice and, in fact, takes great pride in his Korean heritage.

But, it’s here where the article falls short; why are we still labeling couples this way? My wife and I don’t wake up every morning and reflect on our interracial status any more than a caucasian couple looks at one another and says “Hey! We’re both white!” It appears to me that the author tipped their hand early on in the piece as to why he goes to such great lengths to highlight the difficulties that the couples face, he wants to support his early assertion that the racial divide is bigger than ever. The division of the races becomes a self-perpetuating issue guaranteed to make someone think twice before crossing any of these invisible racial lines as they think about the supposedly insurmountable challenges that an interracial relationship should bring their way. And the circle of dischord turns round again…

Technorati tags: Culture, Race, Interracial Marriage, Love

The dam has overflowed and the truth is out, Californians are to blame for all the ills of the western United States (and probably the rest of the world as well.) While this may come as news to some, those of us who have come from California and relocated elsewhere have been bearing the brunt of this accusation for years. Even after living in Colorado for twenty years, the mere mention of my previous home is like putting antlers on your head during Elk season. It’s bloodsport and open season on the Californios. 

Saul Bellow once wrote in Seize the Day “Someone had said, and Wilhelm agreed with the saying, that in Los Angeles all the loose objects in the country were collected, as if America had been tilted and everything that wasn’t tightly screwed down had slid into Southern California.”  It’s true that all those drifters, dreamers, and the otherwise-not-pinnned-down, made their way to California only to run into the Pacific and decide that, having burned up their options from East to West, decided that California is where they would stay.

My own clan made their way in a variety of ways to the Golden state. Upon returning from the service in the orient, some decided that it was a more favorable locale than the snows of New England. Another group evacuated the dustbowl and followed the other rusting trucks to the promise of Los Angeles.  Even more recently, newer parts of my family made the decision from the other side of the globe that California would be their target for immigration. It makes for a mix that is unique in the country.

Are Californians responsible for all that is wrong in the world? Probably, but then again, it’s tough to put the top down in Coeur ‘ D aLane! Sing Randy…