Welcome back readers!

The world is filled with a multitude of beautiful races. And there are many instances where we witness the union of two individuals from different ethnicities, who go on to create a precious little bundle of joy. My son is such a child; the product of my wife (Caucasian, but really a Heinz-57® of various races, including Cherokee) and myself (family from the Caribbean, with Indian ancestry, a dash of Scottish, and whatever else mixed in from indigenous Guyana). So, our little guy is a strikingly perfect combination of our best features. Not to say that he is more beautiful than any other baby (but I am just the slightest bit biased!).

Of course, as lovely as it is for some to see a combination of different backgrounds, for others it is an ugly issue. You guys remember this commercial from several years ago? Many people had a major problem with it. In 2013! There was absolutely nothing wrong with its content, besides apparently showing a heart-warming moment (no pun intended) between members of a wonderfully diverse family.

How do my wife and I raise our son in a world that can be so unintegrated?

In 2011, my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Greece. Now, my physical appearance is one that might cause me to be stopped in an airport. And that’s exactly what happened. Coming home, we caught a connecting flight in France. While going through the process of boarding, my wife went through security just fine. Me? I was given the third degree in a series of probing questions. I answered in the only reasonable way: “I’m with the white woman who just went through!” My wife, who realized the predicament, turned back and confirmed the response of a man who was about to be administered a cavity search.

How do my wife and I raise our son in a world that can be so unintegrated?

My wife isn’t immune to prejudice either. She has dealt with inflammatory remarks and rude glances from people of color, which goes to show you it’s a problem promoted by ALL races. But how is this still an issue? How is it that we can have a commercial in 2013 create so much hatred when in 1991, this same topic was brought up in a great mixture of seriousness and humor in the video below?

(Courtesy of YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAk7tHMp8Yw)

The real answer? I’m sure when originally aired, that episode received just as much hatred as the thirty-second television spot about cereal from four years ago, which also happens to show an interracial couple.

How do my wife and I raise our son in a world that can be so unintegrated?

We live in a world where people of color are profiled just driving down the street. How do we raise our son to not know the uneasiness I feel when a police car drives behind me for several miles? We live in a world where if your last name is hard to pronounce and you look a certain way, you must have ties to some group of religious extremists. How do we raise our son to not be ashamed of his skin color or the uniqueness of his surname?

We will teach him that racism is a real issue that he will have to deal with throughout his life. We will teach him that even though he may be profiled by cops, he needs to believe that not every police officer engages in that practice. We will teach him to try to not be hateful of the people who label him, so as not to continue the cycle. Our little boy will come to learn that diversity is a beautiful thing that should be accepted everywhere, so that ALL families can just sit down and enjoy their cereal in peace.

“Night and the day, when united, bring forth the beautiful light” -Victor Hugo

-Until next time.