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Topic: Interracial couple?  (Read 5418 times)

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Interracial couple?
« on: July 30, 2011, 01:12:39 PM »
I am Irish-American with dual citizenship, my accent is American though, and my boyfriend is Indian-American with fully American citizenship, accent, and culture. In fact, he's the most stereotypical loud funny American guy I know.
We'll be moving to London soon, and of course my Irish father who hasn't been there in 30 years keeps hollering about, "Brits are a bunch of racists!" but just can't get over the fact that, in Belfast, the Irish and British just didn't get along. So, I try to take what he says with a grain of salt. I hear a lot of things about how England is so much more diverse than the US, and how there are many interracial couples, so I really don't think there will be a problem. It's still sort of scary though when my dad insists that we should not go out together at night, saying that we'd be at risk. I think that, if there is racism as he says, the most we'd get is some dirty looks. I don't think I should have anything to be worried about.
Can someone with a bit more knowledge than me (never been to England) and my dad (an old guy who is set in his way and just hates the English) come along and tell me what's real? I don't need to hear sugar and spice, or doom and gloom. I would just like a realistic snapshot.
Living in California, we never get more than just some silly jokes meant between friends in fun. We haven't experienced any deep hurtful racism or threats, like the kind my dad claims would run rampant in London.

PS: I really hope I phrased this the right way, and I don't want to offend anyone at all. I don't have any pre-conceived notions about what England will be like, it's just my dad who often says silly things from the 50s.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2011, 01:20:23 PM »
I'm way out in the boonies South of London, where it's about as English as it gets, and I see interracial couples frequently. That is, there are not many persons of color living down my way, but the ones that are are usually part of a couple. If that made any dang sense.

I'm American, so I probably don't properly grasp cultural issues here, but I get the impression that people of Indian descent have been here so long, they are the most thoroughly accepted into the fabric of the culture.

Now the loud American thing might be a problem  :)


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2011, 01:27:11 PM »
I had to laugh at myself. I am of American Indian descent and my DH was British.  I never considered ours to be an inter racial relationship.  Then I realized the OP didn't say American Indian, she said Indian American.  Can anyone say dyslexia???
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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2011, 01:28:42 PM »
Mixed Indian/non-Indian couples are extremely common in the UK, particularly in cities such as London.  You won't have any problems unless you happen to run across some particularly narrow-minded people.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2011, 01:52:04 PM »
as long as you don't try to join the BNP or hang out with any of their mindset (which is a minority) you won't have any problems


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #5 on: July 30, 2011, 06:40:46 PM »
I'm a little mixed up with the word Indian.
Are we talking of American Indian? In Canada they are called indigenous people or first generation people I think.
Until recently I have identified people from India as Indian-Indian so as to differentiated against the AI. Now I learned that the Indians from India are called Asian and that makes things very simple even though I don't think of India as being in Asia.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2011, 07:27:35 PM »
I'm a little mixed up with the word Indian.
Are we talking of American Indian? In Canada they are called indigenous people or first generation people I think.
Until recently I have identified people from India as Indian-Indian so as to differentiated against the AI. Now I learned that the Indians from India are called Asian and that makes things very simple even though I don't think of India as being in Asia.
It sounds like the man of the couple is of Indian (India)/South* Asian descent.
*Corrected.  
« Last Edit: July 30, 2011, 07:32:37 PM by mariposa »


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2011, 07:30:02 PM »
It sounds like the man of the couple is of Indian (India)/Southeast Asian descent. 

Slight correction - South Asian, not Southeast.  Southeast Asian refers to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2011, 07:33:28 PM »
Slight correction - South Asian, not Southeast.  Southeast Asian refers to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc.
Thanks, Geeta.  I was close.  I hope I caused no offense.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2011, 07:38:54 PM »
Not at all!


Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #10 on: July 30, 2011, 09:04:01 PM »
Thanks, Geeta.  I was close.  I hope I caused no offense.

Relevant to the OP's concerns, this. I think a possible difference between attitudes in the UK and (the PC section of) the USA is that saying "South Asian" when "Southeast Asian" is meant would not really cause anything you could call offence. My ("white") daughter is married to an "Asian" guy who is actually from Mauritius, which is quite a few thousand miles from India, or any other part of Asia. When I was in Denver, CO, I remarked to my friend who was showing me around, that there were "lots of Korean grocery stores", and he said that it was really bad to say things like that. You either had to say "East Asian" or not refer to the ethnicity of the grocers at all.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2011, 01:08:36 PM »
Thanks for all the replies! I feel a lot more assured.
(Oh and yes, he is of south Asian descent, but like I said... he identifies with American culture so much, he is practically a cow-boy. hahaha)


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #12 on: July 31, 2011, 02:19:15 PM »
I think you should be fine.  I imagine a lot of your Dad's concerns are out of date and not applicable.  There was an Asian-white couple at our church (moved to Canada) and I never heard of them experiencing any racism.  Quite a few sets of parents at our playgroup over the last few years too.  This is in Coventry.
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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2011, 02:45:08 PM »
I used to read the blog of a girl who was Filipino-American and living in Belfast with her Northern Irish boyfriend. She did talk about experiencing racism and moved back to San Fran because of it. BUT Belfast is a world away from London and I suspect you'll be fine.


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Re: Interracial couple?
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2011, 04:29:44 PM »
I used to read the blog of a girl who was Filipino-American and living in Belfast with her Northern Irish boyfriend. She did talk about experiencing racism and moved back to San Fran because of it. BUT Belfast is a world away from London and I suspect you'll be fine.
I remember that girl and her blog!  That's a shame she had to move back to the US because of racism.  :(
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