Rejecting the Other

After reading Lynn Bloom's chapter, "Living to Tell the "Tale," I was struck by the words at the bottom of page 76.

'Break it off,' they hiss, their lukewarm Christianity at the boil when Martin, enroute to graduate study in Edinburgh, arrives as a prospective son-in-law. Treating him like vapor, my father speaks only to me throughout the entire visit."

How many time have I heard similar stories from students in interracial relationships or the rejection they've experienced as the "other" from in-laws or future in-laws.

I'm reading The Invisible Man right now in my African American Literature class, and I thought this line from the Prologue seemed to be resonate with what I'm reading in both classes.

"You ache with the need to convince yourself that you do exist in the real world, that you're apart of all the sound and anguish, and you strike out with your fists, you curse and you swear to make them recognize you. And, alas, it's seldom successful."

I ran into an African American former student from Corpus at the mall the other day. I remember he told me years ago in class that his Latina girlfriend's family rejected him. He always hugged me when he saw me, and he is one of the sweetest young men I know. Who could not like this young man who has high aspirations to return to a school he grew up in and be a role model. I met his girlfriend for the first time, and they are expecting a baby in June.

I read in on page 77 of "Living to Tell the Tale"

"'If you marry him'--"they proceed to prove their claim"-- 'we will have nothing to do with you, or your husband, or any children you may have'"

Married in 1958 and Martin and Lynn are still going strong--I hope my former student can also say this 50 years down the road, celebrate his biracial children and their dual cultures and live a visibly happy life in front of others so caught up in rejecting the construct of the negative "other" that tears families apart.

Dr. K.