We Are The Fifteen Percent

I love sharing my blog with people. It's a great opportunity to talk to others about my marriage and what I've learned. Who doesn't want to talk to people about something that's made them so happy? I'm constantly looking up like-minded blogs. I want to hear other stories similar to mine, get advice, and see if they face the same challenges. I'm surprised when I only stumble upon a few. I forget that intercultural marriages aren't as common as I'd like to think. In a recent statistic, they stated only 15 percent of new marriages are intercultural. It's such a small group! So small in fact that it's started a movement called We Are The Fifteen Percent! There's a website where people all over the US share their pictures and show off their beautiful intercultural family. What a great idea! I love browsing through all the new pictures every month. It's encouraging when my husband and I go through challenging seasons. My husband and I have been very blessed to be in such a great community of people that support our marriage. All marriages have their struggles and some of ours come from blending two cultures, but most is just our stubborn attitudes. There are many intercultural marriages out there that can say the same thing. Not all couples are that lucky. Some are faced with tremendous prejudice and racism. I stumbled onto a story in the news this week. A server at a Buffalo Wild Wings was faced with racism over her relationship. She is white and her boyfriend is black which was apparently very offensive to a group of drunk kids. They started calling her boyfriend terribly derogative names. She then proceeded to write a blog post about it. She couldn't believe that this could still happen in 2015. Her post went viral! Thousands of people shared it and it had close to one million views. You would think that she would be greeted with a huge community support. She had a lot of positive and encouraging words alongside hate mail and death threats. Racism is real people. It hasn't gone away. Intercultural relationships may be more accepted, but it is the minority. What can you do?Be open to anything different and educate yourself. Learn about other cultures. Instead of awkwardly staring at someone with a turban, look up why they wear it. Every culture is rich with differences. Yours isn't better just because you're comfortable with it. If you'd like to share your story, share a picture of you and you're partner on Instagram and tag me @almstindianwife or share it on my facebook page. The more people hear and see the 15 percent, the less novel it becomes, and the more we defeat prejudice and racism.