Being Against Interracial Marriage Isn't Racist

[emmiedahl]

Yes, I can pick out WIC purchases in someone's cart and am sure to go to another line. Because there would be an angry mob if some conservative had to wait for two different WIC users!

We can get some baby food mixtures but not others. Nothing that says "casserole" or "dinner" on it, among other things. Apple-pear is okay; apple-pear breakfast is not.

[MandyLaLa]

I'd just like to note the current ad banner is for a book "White Parents, Black Children" :doh:

[2xx1xy1JD]

Why no coverage of cleaning supplies? If you are forced to cook at home because hot food isn't allowed, don't you need to make sure surfaces are clean enough to prevent food poisoning? Is this a way to get everyone to clean with vinegar and baking soda?

[elliesmash]

It always amazes me how much opposition my husband and I run into, even in 2012 from people like this. My mothers family are some of the worst- after we all went down to south Carolina for Christmas, she was patting herself on the back for treating my husband, Just like anyone else.' Not as much like anyone else to put our wedding picture up where other people might see it, but almost human!

[MadameX]

Why no coverage of cleaning supplies? If you are forced to cook at home because hot food isn't allowed, don't you need to make sure surfaces are clean enough to prevent food poisoning? Is this a way to get everyone to clean with vinegar and baking soda?

Actually, vinegar and baking soda make pretty great cleansers. We use them in our kitchen for surfaces almost exclusively. We have a little spray bottle we fill with white vinegar.

[emmiedahl]

Why no coverage of cleaning supplies? If you are forced to cook at home because hot food isn't allowed, don't you need to make sure surfaces are clean enough to prevent food poisoning? Is this a way to get everyone to clean with vinegar and baking soda?

I don't think that is their point, but it is certainly an unintended effect. I just had to fill out a review for food stamps and Medicaid, and they send a paper explicitly telling me what food stamps are for--to feed people in your household only (so I am not supposed to be sending class snacks to preschool I guess) and for products you intend to eat, not do other things with. And no pet food.

I clean with vinegar and baking soda sometimes, but usually I just buy and dilute the dollar store lysol concentrate.

I think that cleaning and hygiene products can be a real challenge for poor people. It's something you don't really think about until you are poor. I have a few kids with ultra-sensitive skin that is irritated by everything but one namebrand laundry soap, plus one who needs heavy duty dandruff shampoo and face washes for teen acne. Whoever said "clean doesn't cost anything" never did the math. We combine coupons with sales and get things very cheap, but some people just don't have coupon-fu. Also, my sister works at Walgreens and calls me when they have killer deals on things I use, so I basically have a personal shopper.

[0KidsAndHappy]

One thing I find funny is that Florida's drug testing of welfare recipients ended up saving the state ... negative $200,000!

The Daily Show did a really great piece on the hypocrisy of it all.

huffingtonpost.com/tony-newman/daily-show-welfare-drug-testing_b_1253161.html

[kamcho_papio]

The anti-interracial marriage thing surprises me, considering how common it is in the military. At least, in the Marines it seems to be.

I had relatives that were against interracial marriages for the "moral" reason that "Oriental" women were stealing men with their China-doll wiles. Or something like it. This was generational, and usually tied to a story about a husband being posted in Japan, Korea, the Philippines or Vietnam, and his marriage breaking up because of the exotic women. Of course, the morality of the situation is an unfaithful spouse, but why not blame some random hussy? :roll:

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

I really can't understand Christians opposing "interracial" marriages, specially fundies (like wasn't there something about that with Breezy Brookshire the other day?) If you believe we are all descended from Adam and Eve, then there is no such thing as race, so it's a moot point. I think even Doug Phillips and Voddie Baucham believe that.

[emmiedahl]

I think that disliking interracial marriage makes you a racist in most cases.

I have a good girlfriend who is black, and she is against it in theory because she feels that more successful black men are marrying white women and leaving black women without a lot of options. That seems like a valid criticism to me, coming from a member of a minority community.

[ElphabaGalinda]

If the only reason someone can give for disliking interacial marriage is unspecified "moral reasons" then that makes a person a racist. Also I don't understand why if someone doesn't like something because it makes them unconfortable then they can just not do whatever it is. In this case they can just decide not to have an interracial marriage and mind their own business when it comes to the choices of others.

[emmiedahl]

Yeah, they were not very clear on their "moral reasons". wtf is morally wrong with it? Didn't Moses marry an African woman, Tzipporah?

[EmmieJ]

If the only reason someone can give for disliking interacial marriage is unspecified "moral reasons" then that makes a person a racist. Also I don't understand why if someone doesn't like something because it makes them unconfortable then they can just not do whatever it is. In this case they can just decide not to have an interracial marriage and mind their own business when it comes to the choices of others.

I'd like to hear what their supposedly moral objections are. Seems to me, if they are against interracial marriage, it's based solely on the race of the people involved, and thus their reasoning is inherently racist. What am I missing?

My brother (RIP) was a lifelong Marine. He had friends in the Marines of every color and denomination. I'm sure racism existed, but one of his best friends was a black guy named Marvin. They joked they were twins. They looked like Mutt and Jeff (my bro, skinny white Irish guy; Marvin - big beefy black guy). I'm always sorry when I run into a Marine who doesn't live up to the same ideals as that.

[Witsec7]

WIC is also only available to pregnant women or women with with children 5 years old and younger who are "at nutritional risk". A single woman without children would not be eligible for WIC, but she might be eligible for food stamps depending on her income. Many women who qualify for WIC also qualify for food stamps, so they're able to supplement the additional items they can't receive through WIC by purchasing the rest in food stamps.

I received food stamps from Sept to Nov last year, when I was penniless after leaving my headship. as a single person, with a cooking facility, the amount was $200. It can be adequate for someone who has cooking skills and knows basic nutrition. Primarily I ate beans and rice, made my own whole wheat tortillas and for variety had lentils and rice. That menu is boring after about 4 days. I bought fresh fruit at a close out grocery store. Money that I normally would have spent on dish soap, laundry det etc went to buy vitamins. I did have nutritional concerns because my diet was stagnant. I depended on a food bank for det, soap and toothpaste. The ladies there were wonderful and one month I got a box of low fat popsicles, that brought me to tears. With a car, and no responsibilities beyond caring for myself I had time to go out to the fields with our local gleaners and get fresh cauliflower, fruit, tomatoes and greens. What I didn't immediately use I froze or oven dried. I depended on the local animal shelter for pet food and cat litter.

Needless to say, when my pension funds became available I tithed to my local food bank.

[JesusFightClub]

If the only reason someone can give for disliking interacial marriage is unspecified "moral reasons" then that makes a person a racist. Also I don't understand why if someone doesn't like something because it makes them unconfortable then they can just not do whatever it is. In this case they can just decide not to have an interracial marriage and mind their own business when it comes to the choices of others.

Well, yeah.

To use an admittedly terrible analogy, I find being a furry really weird and, if I am honest, somewhat icky in some manifestations. (I apologise to any furries here). I don't get the lifestyle and I end up with a huge dose of "BUT WHY WOULD A PERSON DO THAT" if I look into it in any depth. I like many furries as people but do. not. get. their interest.

So! A simple answer. I just won't become a furry. That way I am happy and furries are happy as they do their own thing peacefully and not affecting me in the slightest.

Likewise, if someone is really freaked out by interracial marriage, I'm not going to have a high opinion of them, but if their answer is "Well, I'll just marry someone the same race as me and other people can do as they like" that is far better than trying to raise a personal preference/irrational dislike to the level of "morality".

[samurai_sarah]

I think that disliking interracial marriage makes you a racist in most cases.

I have a good girlfriend who is black, and she is against it in theory because she feels that more successful black men are marrying white women and leaving black women without a lot of options. That seems like a valid criticism to me, coming from a member of a minority community.

Your friend's type of reasoning always leaves me uncomfortable. Mainly, because I've had quite a few South East Asian men accuse me of "selling out" and buying into racial hierarchies, because my partner is white. Apparently, I'm only with him, because he's white. And according to them, he's only with me, because he has "yellow fever". Naturally, all these guys claimed to speak from experience, and I got vilified for rejecting them. What makes me uncomfortable is that those men reduce me to an aspect of my person, and made demands of me based on that, as if I owed them anything. I don't. I can see where your friend is coming from, but being on the "other side", her argument reminds me of all those entitled guys.

[emmiedahl]

It makes me a little uncomfortable too, but I would not consider it racist.

[Witsec7]

My godson is biracial, he is opposed to interracial marriage claiming "A white woman cannot raise a strong black man'. He's 30 and came to this POV about 5 years ago.

[Austin]

My godson is biracial, he is opposed to interracial marriage claiming "A white woman cannot raise a strong black man'. He's 30 and came to this POV about 5 years ago.

President Obama's mother would probably disagree :)

[salsa]

You can't buy prepared foods (hot foods, usually) because there's a rule in there designed to prevent people from using food stamps on restaurant food.

So usually you can buy the rotisserie chickens at the supermarket, BUT they have to be the chilled ones, cooked and then packaged up chilled to be taken home, rather than the ones that are still hot on the rotisserie and able to be eaten warm right away.

That sort of "wait...wut?" rule is what happens when people try to make "obvious" rules about food stamp usage. The suggested "no junk food!" probably sounds "obvious" to plenty of people, but when you look into it the application would be difficult and expensive. I mean, if cupcakes are clearly beyond the pale forbidden, how about tea bread? Coffee cake? If cookies are right out, what about crackers? How about those crackers with cheese powder on 'em? If you're going to allow those, why not Doritos? Etc etc ETC. Is beef jerky meat?

Very often people suggest the "no junk food with my tax dollars!!" thing as a way to save money, but policing it would end up taking more money. The people who still insist that it's worth it, that the policing must happen, usually don't really have cost savings in mind at all from the beginning.

You want some fun, remind some of the specifically right-winger loud annoying military wives ranting on about big government that their husbands are public employees... federal ones even, not just state! :D

... and those who espouse regulating what people on food stamps buy are usually the ones who advocate for smaller government.

[Witsec7]

President Obama's mother would probably disagree :)

He dropped this little bomb at a family reunion dinner, where both sides of his family were present. His Gma, reminded him that, to the best of her knowledge, four generations his family had been producing interracial kids, and his statements were an insult to all regardless of skin tone.

[emmiedahl]

I will never forget this one woman who waited behind me in line while I was learning the new WIC rules for baby food. The checker was new to them also and it was taking forever. The woman behind me was rolling her eyes, and I was blushing and avoiding eye contact because it was getting ridiculous. The checker held up one jar and said, "You can't get sweet potato and corn, it is considered a 'casserole'." The lady behind me blew a gasket and was like "What? Why can't she get that? Why are we telling this woman what food she can feed her baby? She obviously is capable of making that decision." I said, "Well, they ARE paying for it..." and she was like, "I don't care who is paying for it, you should be able to decide what fucking baby food you buy."

That restored some faith in humanity. When we start trying to tell people what to buy with food stamps, it will cause more of these day-to-day issues. More frustation for everyone, more money for the government to regulate, more moms wondering why they can't get cheap healthy option A that their kids love rather than cheap healthy option B that the kids hate.

[Angri-la]

My godson is biracial, he is opposed to interracial marriage claiming "A white woman cannot raise a strong black man'. He's 30 and came to this POV about 5 years ago.

I am a white woman currently raising a strong black woman. Maybe he needs to get out more?

Of course, my daughter is not bi-racial, that we know of, and I've commented before about the crazy comments I get walking around a store: a tall bald blue eyed man and his redheaded wife holding a small black girl's hands. Once, I think someone thought we kidnapped her!

I don't get this ideology one whit in 2012 with a bi-racial man married to a black woman in the white house.

[Witsec7]

I am a white woman currently raising a strong black woman. Maybe he needs to get out more?

Of course, my daughter is not bi-racial, that we know of, and I've commented before about the crazy comments I get walking around a store: a tall bald blue eyed man and his redheaded wife holding a small black girl's hands. Once, I think someone thought we kidnapped her!

I don't get this ideology one whit in 2012 with a bi-racial man married to a black woman in the white house.

First off, down here in CornValley, your family would not turn a head, I have lesbian pals with three adopted kids, 1 Vietnamese, one biracial Romanian and one a red headed African American.

The GS has some issues, not related to being biracial. His African American family are all over achievers, and his Mom's family were Polish/Greek/Russian American racists much like mine. But this pronouncement at dinner was a show stopper. When Granny G pulled herself up at the table I thought she would be tossing dishes as a second act. Its a painful insult delivered numerous times and it grieves his Mom (my old college roomie) every time he brings it up.

[Boltingmadonna]

JesusFightClub said:

To use an admittedly terrible analogy, I find being a furry really weird and, if I am honest, somewhat icky in some manifestations.

LOL. To be honest, my main reason for finding furries somewhat icky is that so much of their garb is polyester. To me, polyester fur + sex = gross. But I guess that's true of non-furry sex too. Anyway, not my problem since I'm certainly not going to be in the room when it's happening.