Candice writes on Celebrating Change

If it wasn’t for people like Martin Luther King Jr., I would not have the family I have today.

I’m white and my husband is black. And while our interracial marriage and bi-racial child rarely get a second glance now, it wasn’t too long ago that our lives would have been a very different story.

I read stories in a book called Interracial Intimacies about bi-racial children torn from their white mothers because they looked too dark to stay with them. Or children who were put in strangers’ homes, taken away from loving parents, so that they could be raised all black or all white and not be confused about their racial identity.

It frightens me to think that there would have been a time that I would not have had the chance to raise my daughter because she did not have my skin tone. To think that her identity, even her very existence, would have been shameful breaks my heart.

That is why I feel that this day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, is important to celebrate. I am humbled by the struggles so many went through so that my daughter, husband, and I can live in a world proud of who we are.  And one day, when my daughter is old enough to understand, I want to teach her about the struggles and dedication of those before her that made her life possible. That is a change worth celebrating.

Comments

[D-Plum]

Tricia, thanks for allowing Candace to share her story on your blog. :-)

Candace, thank you so much for sharing your heart... praise God for your family, and for you passing on to your daughter a rich heritage of two very wonderful cultures!

Keep living your story! ;-)