Photo courtesy of contemporaryfamilies.org

Walking the streets of Manhattan every day, I’m unfazed by interracial couples. It’s nothing new or exciting to me. So it puzzles me that there are people who think otherwise. Most areas in the country are not as progressive as New York. There are people all over that do not agree with interracial couples, claiming that people should date within their own race. It is extremely common to hear the people that say they do not accept interracial couples, while also protesting they are not racist. But how could this be? How could someone who is not racist want to keep people of different races apart? There is no way. Those who find a problem with interracial love have some issue with people who are of a different race then they are. Racism is not always so cut and dry. When most people think of racism, they think back to how people treated people of a different race before the Civil Rights movement. They think of separate water fountains and separate schools. But racism also includes thinking people of different races do not belong together. It proves that there are people that still don’t believe that all humans are humans no matter their race and that these humans can find love with any other human. They see a difference between people just because of their skin color. No more than ever, interracial couples are accepted around the country, but we have a long way to go before they are accepted by everyone.

by, Dylan Frand, Non Profit Management degree candidate at the New School for Public Engagement.