How to deal with racism within the family (interracial dating)?

There are a lot of interracial dating sites and interracial communities that say interracial dating is beautiful and an amazing experience. What they don’t speak about are the difficulties you might face getting accustomed to your partner’s family, their culture and traditions. There are chances your companion’s friend might not be comfortable with you being around but does that mean you should ditch your love? Absolutely not! What you need to do is find a solution and ensure you fit into the environment.

Here are a few interracial dating tips that will help you get over this problem:

Be straightforward: Who said confrontations are easy? However, it is essential that you convey your emotions and not just absorb them every single time. The moment someone from your family makes a racist joke or compare you with racist stereotypes, tell him / her that you’d appreciate it if she refrains from making such jokes of comparisons. If you feel that making a confrontation in front of the entire family will make her defensive, speak with her in private.

Get others to help: When a particular intimidates you and you’re uncomfortable discussing about this topic with him / her, seek help of a relative or your partner. Make it clear that you find their opinions on your race hurtful and insensitive. In case your father-in-law or mother-in-law is guilty of making insensitive remarks, ask your spouse to confront him about the kind of language used.

Do not argue: Never get into a racial debate with any member of the family. It is better to agree to disagree rather than listening to him/her, argue about how and why her racist remarks can be justified. According to interracial dating expert Barry Wolfson arguing with someone who has made up an opinion about a specific race makes no sense. While your family member would get increasingly defensive in support of his remarks, you’d tend to get offensive.

Furthermore, this way your family member would learn absolutely nothing about racial sensitivity. It is important that you emphasize on your feelings rather than on the validity of remarks.

Make a point: Opening their eyes is something impossible at the end of a heated argument. However, you can certainly take some steps to open their mind. The focus of the discussion should be on freeing their minds from the bondages of stereotypes. You could arrange a family trip to a local museum that emphasizes on social equality or arrange a Netflix night screening movies on racial inequality. These tricks would certainly give you a platform to put forward a point.

It goes without saying that coping up with racist family members is an uphill task. However, that doesn’t mean you’d give up and accept things the way they are. It is important you take the first step and ensure you change their mindset.

You can check more interracial dating tips on interracial dating sites.