Interesting title huh? It all stems from a few flash backs that I've had recently. After watching a documentary entitled "Defamation" directed by Yoav Shamir, I couldn't help but reflect on the awkward behavior from my family as they discovered that my future wife was going to be a white woman. See, although NYC is diverse, the minds of some people aren't. My family came from an old fashion Dominican background, in which Dominicans marry Dominicans, and don't say you can't find a Dominican to marry, because you have plenty of 3rd cousins that are available options. I remember showing a picture of my future wife to my uncle Juan and his immediate response was "Ohhhh she's white", as if to say "ARE YOU CRAZY!" For some reason my uncle didn't think that my wife could learn to cook rice and beans, speak Spanish and enjoy listening to merengue. So far shes 2 for 3 and we're working on the bilingual part still. All this to say, "what the hell?" Its not like my home is a dinner party with David Duke and Louis Farrakhan as the special guest. Now, obviously there will be cultural differences, but that is the beauty of not having an arranged marriage! Will my kids learn Spanish? Absolutely. Will they know their heritage? For sure. Will they dance merengue or play rock guitar? Um... how about both?
Truth is, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love waking up to my wife's light skin and green eyes. And I love her American accent when she calls me "Papi" and says "platanos". I love the way her light skin shines in my brown hands. Its like I took the diversity I lived with for 19 years in NYC, and brought it home with me. Now we're raising two beautiful boys. Mehkai has my skin tone with his Mommy's curly brown hair and Uriah is light like mommy, with green eyes and even lighter brown hair. I've learned about her culture and shes learned about mine and our sons will grow up living in BOTH. That's the beauty of seeing people as people and not as a hostile culture.
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