Before your current partner, had you ever been involved in an interracial relationship before?
No.
What was your perception of interracial relationships before you got into one?
Oh, I always liked the idea, thought it was cool... I also thought it could help curb racism if everyone had a black aunt or uncle and white aunt or uncle.
Do you think that race or culture or religion should ever matter in issues to do with love?
I don’t think race and culture should matter because "moyo muti unomera paunoda" (the heart will follow its own desires) . However, I do think that religion or faith do matter because you need to at least have the same fundamental beliefs if you are going to build a life together. I know for some people, they might say their faith is not important to them, but when the children come, it can bring new problems. For instance, do we christian our baby or not... You know, stuff like that.
Have you ever encountered any challenges (eg racism) as a result of being in an interracial relationship?
I wouldn’t say racism per se... I only remember that once we had two different older black men click their tongues at us, and that once, there was this drunk white guy who started swearing and saying the "n" word when we walked past him...But nothing has happened that has made me feel "small" if you know what I mean.
Many people think that going out with someone of a different race is ‘selling out’. What do you say to that?
I say "lol" (laugh out loud). I deserve to be with someone who makes me happy, marrying someone just because they are the same race as me, well that could be seen as settling. You need to be with someone you "want" to be with, someone you enjoy being with (doesn’t matter what colour their skin is), you know.
Of mixed and Zimbabwean heritage, Thandie Newton is one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses. (Photograph from www.ferola.net)
Do you think that there will ever be a time when race doesn’t matter in the world?
No. I think as long as we all have eyes and can see the different shades of skin, then race will always matter. As long as companies are still keeping statistics on how many people of this ethnic background work here etc etc... then our race will always be a factor.
Even now when companies are pushing the whole "diversity" thing, it still means they want a "mixed pot" of races, and so not too many of one race. For example, I worked in a team of seven or eight people and we had an Asian team leader (I need to qualify "Asian" because in Australia it means people of a Chinese background, but in London, it covers people of Indian or Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds). Anyway, we needed a new team member and my team leader did not want another Asian person on our team because we already had there.
You can’t really accuse them of racism can you, but the fact is the Asian guy who turned up for that job interview missed out on the job because he was Asian.
How hard or easy do you think it would be to be in an interracial relationship in Zimbabwe?
The only challenge I found when I was in Zimbabwe was the assumption that some Zimbabweans have that my white man is rich. So you get people expecting "things" from you because you have a white man. But I can’t comment too much on this one because I haven’t really lived in Zimbabwe with my white man.
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Thank you to Anotidaishe for this piece. We trust this will get the dialogue flowing and hopefully enable us to get a few more stories from people in interracial relationships. May she and her man live long to have lots of gorgeous caramel babies!
