How many of us have multi-racial families?

[Danielle]

Even including extended family... tell us about it.

Is there anyone on either side that was/is opposed to the situation?

[Brooke]

Me, me :D

My BIL, Terron, is black. I don't think my Grandma was too keen on the idea at first, but those thoughts are totally gone now. My Mom's side of the family is mostly just a bunch of bigoted assholes, so I know most o fthem don't like it. But, that's part of the reason we don't talk to most of them. ;)

Edited to add: I guess I should say that the rest of us are caucasian/white. :giggle

[Danielle]

As most of you know, dh is Jamaican and I'm mostly a "white girl" with a bit of Native Canadian thrown in a few generations back :D. My kids are more like dh than me in that they are dark skinned, curly haired and have his facial features.

Everyone in my immediate family is very accepting of Bertram (in fact, my dad may like him more than he likes me sometimes :giggle). I have a few redneck cousins that I'm sure have little comments behind our backs but I could care less :D.

B's family is all in Jamaica but they are all very nice people who have been nothing but kind to me and they love getting pics of the kids and are obsessed with Takara's long curly hair LOL.

All in all, we are very lucky! :lovealot

[Jo]

I never really think about it in terms of me. My SIL is from Thailand. Nobody ever had an issue with her because of her race. I think it is going to be more of a consideration when they have children because they might be more aware of racial issues. But as far as the family is concerned, I always forget to think about the issue.

Technically my brother is part Muscelera(sp?) Apache. But again, I never think about it because most obviously he doesn't look like he has a drop of Native American blood.

[Danielle]

It's funny Jo, I'm like 1/16 Native (Miqmaq) but I get asked if I'm Native all the time!

[off-kilter]

My mother was born and raised in Vietnam, though technically her parents came from China. My caucasian relatives were generally awful to her with the notable exception of my two aunts; there was little love lost there.

I always say I'm half Chinese and half Kentucky White Trash (quoting my KWT father), which usually gets a shocked chuckle for my outrageousness. I look very white for the most part, though most Asians can spot it right off and I've had many people guess Samoan, Filipeno, Hispanic, American Indian (I do have a bit of that as well), etc. It usually takes several meetings before someone will ask, "So, what are you, anyway?" That is, if they ever do. Some are quite surprised that I'm anything but white.

My father in law once showed one of the few pics where I look strongly Asian to a family friend and there was evidently tension in the air when the guy innocently noted, "She's not one of us, is she?" Thankfully, he was quick to say he didn't mean anything by that, so my FIL didn't get too riled.

Generally, I have to say that I haven't had the problems that many minorities do. Even saying that I'm mixed-race seems ... wrong somehow. I always list "other" in the race column since I'm pretty strongly influenced by the Caucasian culture, but it would be disingenuous to dismiss my Asian half.

[Renita]

I am full blooded Native American and my husband is black. His family loves me to pieces....more than him I might say!:giggle

My family was a little more resistent in the beginning.....but I think that had more to do with our age gap. I was 23 when we got married and he was 32. I also think just traditionally, we are still very in tune with our culture as native americans and very very very very conservative. I definitely stepped "out of the box" with my marriage! LOL As the years have passed, they have grown to love him even more...

But if you really want to know...I have one cousin who is married to a blk man was well..they have 3 kids. My other cousin has 2 kids from a blk man, but they never married. My other cousin is married to a Spanish lady. My other cousin has been dating a Filipino lady for years. Who else? LOL

Jo, that would be Mescalero Apache....my mom used to live on the reservation growing up. We are Pueblo Indian...located in New Mexico. :D

[MrsSuzNZ]

My Mum is married to a Tongan guy. He is the best dad anyone can ever have. My mum and him have 2 kids together. My 4 year old sister and 9 year old brother.

Everyone accepted him into our family. Even us kids who were quite young. He accepted us, and we accept him. :)

[Kristi]

Well my Aunt (my dad's brothers wife) is Japanese. He met her in Japan when he was stationed there in the Navy and they adopted two little girls over there so my cousins are also Japanese. As far as I know no one has ever had a problem with it in our family. I used to think it was really cool growing up. We did not see them often because we lived in Hawaii but when we did get to see her she taught us a little Japanese and talked about Japan. (which of course I do not remember any of it now but it was neat LOL)

I can't think of any others right now but for some reason I feel like I am overlooking someone

[Jejune]

We're a mixed everything family, I suppose. Daniel is Venezuelan, and I'm American. Our descents are pretty different, and he's dark skinned while I'm very light skinned.

I don't think anyone in either of our families is actively opposed to our relationship, though there are some racist family members of mine who are no doubt spinning in their graves as though they were blenders on high, and Daniel's mother did take the opportunity of our marriage to berate Daniel for never dating Hispanic girls. But I think that has more to do with her little boy getting married and settling across the country than my ethnicity, in all honesty. There are a lot of cultural tensions, but I firmly believe it's issues other than ethnicity or culture that cause those tensions.

[Danielle]

My family was a little more resistent in the beginning.....but I think that had more to do with our age gap. I was 23 when we got married and he was 32.


We're 9 years and 10 months apart Renita ;).

[Renita]

We're 9 years and 10 months apart Renita ;).

NO WAY! I think we are too? Hold on...let me calculate this out.....9 years, 9 months and 2 weeks....LOL Ready for the kicker...he gets carded everytime we go out. Me? NEVER!

Too funny....

[Jenny]

I am a mixed bag of races and had to deal with crap growing up :( My mom is Indonsian/Chinese and Dutch. She grew up in Indonesia and always got teased for being a "cheesehead" as she was lighter skinned and had freckles and was taller.

She moved to Holland as a teenager and did not have that many problems until she moved to Sweden to be with my 100% swedish father. She got called A LOT of racists names and said that she had condemned us children for being mixed kids. She and the other "coloured" moms all became friends at the park, as they were the only ones who talked to them. She even would be called names walking down the street, such as "Ambonese Whore!"

So anyway, I was five when I moved from Sweden to Holland and people always thought I was Morocan or Turkish (a lot of Morrocan and Turkish immigrants in Holland) and I got all sorts of remarks and stares as a young teenager.

Then when I moved to this town here in Canada when I was 13yrs old, people always assumed I was native-Indian and the Native-Indians didn't befriend me, because I was this "white chick" who dated a native boy (one boyfriend was native).

whoa, this is long LOL

My husband is caucasian and one of his uncles was VERY racist and I was not allowed to come to the first family reunion to avoid any conflict. He has changed a lot since then and is totally accepting. There are so many mixes in dh's family now, so I am probably the most 'white' on there who married into it.


My kids look mixed too. My son always gets asked if he is Phillipino. I do not believe that they will have any issues like I did.

Oh and the funniest thing is when I pull out my Swedish passport at the border and they do a triple take, because if anything I look Hispanic

[Shana]

My brother has a son who is half black/half white. Okay it's his step son but he adopted him when he was just 6, so we consider him our Nephew always :lovealot

And, I'm not married to Mike any longer, but my kids have 4 bi-racial cousins -- Mike's brother is married to a black woman.

Funny story. As a young child, the ONLY cousins that Kaleb new were of mixed race. John Elliotte (Erik's) and Jarred (Mike's brother's oldest son). The very 1st time that Erik & Emily (no longer married ) had a (caucasian) son -- and we saw him... the confused look on Kaleb's face was PRICELESS.

He just stared at Wesley -- then at me -- then back to Wesley -- then back at me and he goes, "Mommy. My cousin is THE WRONG COLOR!!!":lmao

[Jurgita]

Well my all family is while, so I thought I need to bring some spice into it LOL So I married a guy from Philippines.

[Amy J]

I'm Caucasian and SO is Mexican. Our children are Mexican Americans. Tristan looks like daddy and Rosie looks more like me.

[Beka]

the majority of my family is caucasian but several of my cousins are pakistani-caucasian (we have a wide variety of religions in our family as a result) one of my Dads cousins has a different father to his siblings and is Afro-caucasian as a result (best descriptive of it i guess- we don't have afro-american being in Englanf :lmao) his children are all mixed race too as a result.

David's step sister had a Jamaican father and so is mixed race and her daughter is from a jamaican-caucasian mother and a pakistani father.

MIL is Irish so DH is english-irish but as he doesn't have any outward distinguishing features to show that (even missed the v.dark hair- he's a blond) i wouldn't really class him or my kids as mixed race as he's mixed nationality not race.

I live in a really diverse area of England anyway though (just outside birmingham it's 2nd city and there is a big big cultural mix there) so my kids have never really found it odd that out family has a wide variety of skin tones and accents within it, Jude is probably the only one who's ever asked why but he pretty much sees it as just like some of his cousins have different hair and eye colour to him.

[Tracy]

Rich is Hispanic and I am Caucasian....so our girls are mixed.

No one from either of our families have had any problem with it.

[ColleenC]

Well dh is from Chile so our kids are half Chilean. It's never been an issue here. The only comment we have ever gotten is when my mom called my grandma(in england) to tell her that Cristian was born. My mom told her that his name was Cristian Marcelo Gonzalez and my grandma said "What on earth kind of name is that?" LOL

I don't think they will get bugged as kids because there are so many mixed races here, it's not even an issue. Megan can pass as Chilean(Dark hair and eyes)but Cristian can't because he is soooooo white LOL He takes after my side of the family.

[Desirae]

My youngest sister is black. She was a foster child of ours and the adoption was finallized when she was.... 4?
I also have a Philipino aunt, an aunt who is part Native Indian and a Chinese great uncle.

[Mu Shu]

My dad's first wife was Mexican, so my half brothers and half sister are Mexican.

My husband is Chinese, and I'm white, Native American, and there's a little black a few generations back.

[Emily]

We are a multi-racial family. We have our own little rainbow goin on. In Kamryn's terms, I am clear (or sometimes pink depending on her mood). My SO is brown (as is my ex-husband who is Kamryn & Kierra's father). And the girls are all tan. She has been using these terms for as long as I can remember.
We have never had any problems from either side of the family (and I never had problems with my ex-ILs either). I don't know if that is the right way to put it - I should say more that it's not an issue b/c I don't think anyone in our families even pay any attention.

[wendygrace]

My family is hispanic but not mexican. :) I always have a hard time answering this because although my parents were born in South America, their roots are caucasian, spanish, french and italian. My house is pure american mutt, german, french, irish, whatnot. My family must have some moorish in our blood as my father (the spanish side) is dark. So we say we are mixed.

My sister also married a gringo and my other sister's kids are also gringo with supposedly some native american thrown in the mix.

On my husband's family, my bil has wife from Japan and they have a son from Peru.

However, my son's parents are so redneck that the story goes, when my dh brought home a mexican girlfriend, his mother was excited because now her dil (the japanese) could now have someone to talk to in "her language".

[Jenny]

Wendy thats the funniest thing I have heard LOL (the "her language" part )

[wendygrace]

Jenny, she shamefully admits she had no clue. It truly is funny. She is 75 though and has lived in small towns, ala Little House on the Prairie, her whole life.

[Kate]

For myself, I'm a straightout Anglo-Aboriginal mix, but I inherited the features minus the colour and my sister scored the colour without the features.

I *think* Maia's father also had some aboriginal heritage, but I'll never really know because he was adopted, but given the time he was born statistically it's very likely. That said, based on the fact that one of the local elders here is absolutely convinced Maia is Wiradjuri, which is the tribal group originally coming from the area I live in now, and I'm not I figure that's where her father's family comes from. Because my father was adopted too, we're still not entirely sure where his family is from, but based on what I've been told his tribal group would have been different again, so in that sense Maia's more mixed then I am.