Wednesday, June 26, 2013

We are the 15%

Something incredibly exciting happened to my little family over the weekend. If you follow me on twitter or Facebook, you can maybe guess what happened by the title of this post. If you don't, why the heck not?
Anywho. Somehow the hubs discovered an amazing website that a sweet couple put together after the backlash from the Cheerios commercial (read more about that here). The website is www.WeAreThe15Percent.com . The creators wanted to show everyone just how diverse American families truly are. The 15% part comes from a statistic from the 2008 census stating that 15% of new marriages are interracial. Of course, I am sure that number has significantly gone up since the 2008 census. One thing led to another and WeAreThe15Percent was featured on the Huffington Post AND the picture that you see above was also in the article. I feel semi-famous even if nobody else in the world noticed our picture. Just like the time you saw the back of my head for a millisecond in Will Ferrell's movie 'Talladega Nights'. :)

This little project got me thinking about my marriage. If this were 70 years back, our marriage would be illegal in most states. Although most Asian-caucasian relationships were tolerated, many couples still had to hide their love for each other for fear of prosecution or worse. It's just crazy to think about things like this.

You want to know something even crazier?? A form of this marriage racism still exists today in the Asian culture. A Korean woman once told me that even if she fell in love with someone outside of her race, she would never marry that person. She would only marry a Korean man to please her parents. There is also an Asian hierarchy of sorts - one Asian being superior to another and it is frowned upon to date someone from the lower tier of the Asian hierarchy.

I just hope that my girls fall in love with whoever they regardless of race or gender. I would hate to be the reason that my child suffers or doesn't marry the love of their life. I hope that they will come to know that their father and I are happiest when they are happy.

Love is love, people!

6 comments:

  1. that is such an adorable commercial! how can people not like it?! and it's sad to say that i've seen this living in korea. we had a good friend of ours (a doctor) fall in love with a girl (a sales clerk) but the relationship couldn't go anywhere he said because of his mothers opinion. and since he was the first born son, there was even MORE pressure on him and who he will marry! this is slowly changing but it still breaks my heart!

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  2. It's one thing about the Korean culture that I will never understand. Favoring boys over girls: I don't like it, but I get it. Not letting your child be free to marry who they love: Have no clue how to make sense of this. . .

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  3. Megan@TwoDelightedJuly 1, 2013 at 10:04 PM

    I saw this when Malone posted it on facebook. I love that you guys got included in this article. You must feel so proud of your perfect little family. And also very famous. Obviously. I must not have ever watched Talladega Nights closely enough to recognize your head. Fancy fancy.

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  4. Wow, that's so neat that your photo was featured in that article!


    Sadly, I think this form of marriage racism still exists a bit in Japan, too. But probably just among the older generation. These days, I see a lot of Asian-Caucasian couples around. I think we're slowly but surely heading towards a more understanding era. It's about time, too!


    Great post :)

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  5. Malone didn't tell you that I was a famous movie star? or at least the back of my head is famous :)

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  6. I am hoping that my little half-asain kids will help in the eradication of racism. I am a firm believer that if you know better, you'll be better. Sometimes the Korean culture just feels so isolated because of the lack of other races in the country

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