Andrea burns post 2

This blog entry goes more into the story of my "interracial relationship." For the record, I hate those terms. People are people and should date whomever makes them happy. Unfortunatly, not everyone sees it the same way. As I mentioned in my last post, I come from a town that is predominatly white and a family that is racist. As I also mentioned, I did not follow along with these beliefs, shown through my relationship with someone who was black. Just to mention, I did not intentionally do this to prove a point. I really liked him and could care less what color he had been. I was with this boy my middle school years and the start of my high school career. Obviously at this age, we were not going to stay together. We were like fourteen. Our relationship was extremely juvenile and never going to end in marriage. However, this made no difference to my parents. We were forced to keep things a secret. If he wanted to call me, he had to have a friend do it for him since his voice was so deep. We could only see each other inside of school and at school functions. One day, we decided to take a risk and walk home from school together with some of our friends holding hands. Very bad decision. My father ended up driving by, causing damage to my family's relationship with me that is still being felt today. It began a big ordeal. I never was in so much trouble in my life. They drove me to and from school to ensure that I was not walking with him. It was almost summer vacation so my parents grounded me for the entire summer. I was forbidden to use the phone or the computer or go pretty much anywhere to keep me from contacting him. My father did not speak to me for over a month. All this occured due to my parents being unhappy with a boy because he was black. That was all they could see. My parents to this day still don't trust me because of this instance. This upsets me that they can't see past anything but skin color. For the record, I also hate the phrase, "Once you go black, you never go back." I can say that I have dated boys of other ethnicites since that point. However, as an extremely pale white girl, I can also say that I am attracted to boys who are darker colored. I look like a ghost so I like having some contrast. I don't go out of my way to pick them however. Whatever color they are, it's what is on the inside that matters. It kills me that my parents cannot see that. It kills me that if I decide to marry someone with an ethnicity they don't approve of, they will exile me from their life. They won't come to my wedding or meet their grandchildren. That is horrible fact. Color shouldn't matter. Love should be enough.