I believe that if two people love each other, it doesn’t matter which race each person comes from: they should be able to have a relationship or marriage that is equal to anyone else’s. I also believe that the children of the parents from two different races should be equal to those of one single race.

My parents are of two different races. My mom is African American from New Jersey in the United States, and my dad is Hispanic, from a small town in Mexico. Though some people think this is strange, they have a great marriage and I know they love each other. It wasn’t always so easy for them to be together, because my dad’s father was skeptical about his son marrying a black woman, based on bad experiences he had had with black people when he was living in California. He hadn’t met my mother yet when my parents got married, because of the distance, as my parents met in Hong Kong. In the end, my parents loved each other regardless of the country they came from, and this made their decision and marriage as concrete as it is today. When my grandfather met my mother a few years after my parents got married, he was one hundred percent okay with the marriage: he saw that not all black people were like those who were bad to him in California, and that his son loved my mom regardless of the color of her skin.

I used to be really conscious about what strangers, and even people from school thought when they saw our family all together, or me holding my dad’s hand as a child. Maybe just because we were younger, kids in my classes would find it extremely strange that my parents looked so different. But this only made me more and more proud of our unique family. When we go to New Jersey and go to churches where the majority of the congregation is black, I am not even the least bit bothered by people looking curiously at our family, or more specifically, my dad. My sister and I feel proud to be of mixed race, because we get to share in many backgrounds and cultures. When people ask where I am from, I usually have to give about three answers, and this doesn’t bother me because I feel independent that way.

Though my own parents don’t feel discriminated against for their interracial marriage, it wasn’t always this way. Throughout history, people have been treated unfairly if they choose to marry someone who is of a different race. Interracial marriage was a major social taboo, and at times dangerous for the couple. Thankfully, time has passed and this has changed, and interracial marriage is more the norm than the unexpected or the forbidden. But even in America today, mixed race children and their parents are discriminated against. Just a few years ago, an interracial couple in Louisiana was denied a marriage license by a judge who said he “feared the children the couple might have”, because he doesn’t want more mixed race children in the world. For me, this is a sad thing, especially to hear that in this century people in love, like my own parents could be denied marriage from someone, simply because they are not of the same racial background.

A connection I can personally make to this topic is just witnessing things here at school. This being an international school, and Hong Kong being a very international community, you would think there isn’t much racism. And there isn’t. But there is still existing prejudice, even in our own school. It isn’t so much of discrimination, but more ignorance and stereotypes. I felt so strongly about this, I wrote a poem about it for a magazine, which I would like to share with you all. It’s called “Mention of A Word”.

"Who would’ve thought,
A private school hallway,
Could turn into the deadliest of battlefields,
With just the mention of a word?

What others think is fun; funny even,
Just initiates this hidden war.
Only those observant few notice;
Or maybe just few care.

Racist jokes shot around,
Like stray bullets;
Affecting others more,
Than the intended target.

Have we run out of comedy?
Why resort to making fun of each other,
Because of our race, ethnicity, nationality,
Just for laughs?

''Maybe if we don’t look,
We won’t see it.
Then it’ll go away,
Right?''

Wrong.
We ignore the real problem:
The problem that makes even the proudest, most confident of people,
Feel lower than low.

Until something happens,
Until someone cares,
This invisible battle will injure us all,
With just the mention of a word."

I believe that at the root of all discriminating acts, whether it be towards LGBT people, handicapped, the elderly, or racism, is ignorance. By expressing my view on these topics, I believe that the world can improve, so that future generations won’t have to experience the same type of hardships based simply on judgmental things that our ancestors and even people today face. That way, interracial couples, their children, and anyone else who wants to express themselves in a worry-free way, can. Thank you for listening.