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Racism gave Jamaican man a heart attack
André Brown’s wife tells her story
BY KARYL WALKER Observer online news editor walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, April 15, 2012
This is the conclusion of a story on the trials of a biracial family living in the United States.
FOR Rita Brown, a white Danish woman who is married to black Jamaican André Brown, the racist attacks on her family and herself have only served to strengthen her resolve.
Coming from a more liberal background than she has now found in America’s deep south, Brown was given a baptism of fire when she decided to live there with her husband and raise their biracial children. She is now convinced that large swathes of US society are far less tolerant of interracial marriages than her homeland of Denmark, where people are less hostile towards people of colour.
Brown has been the victim of abuse from both sides of the racial divide. She has been called ‘************ lover’, ‘white trash’. She has been spat at, refused service, heckled, and has faced many other forms of race discrimination because she fell in love with and married a black man.
In fact, Brown told the Sunday Observer that she has never fully warmed to white Americans.
“I don’t socialise with white people in America. Once I started to integrate in American society, I have never been able to relate to white people in America because they are not me. They often compare me to being a white American but I have to explain to people that I’m not. I was born and raised in Europe. I come with a mind that is built on a different kind of foundation. I was raised without racism,” she declared.
The sharp contrast between the mindset among most people in her homeland in comparison with the US gave her a jolt when she decided to live in North America.
Full Hundred
André Brown’s wife tells her story
BY KARYL WALKER Observer online news editor walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, April 15, 2012
This is the conclusion of a story on the trials of a biracial family living in the United States.
FOR Rita Brown, a white Danish woman who is married to black Jamaican André Brown, the racist attacks on her family and herself have only served to strengthen her resolve.
Coming from a more liberal background than she has now found in America’s deep south, Brown was given a baptism of fire when she decided to live there with her husband and raise their biracial children. She is now convinced that large swathes of US society are far less tolerant of interracial marriages than her homeland of Denmark, where people are less hostile towards people of colour.
Brown has been the victim of abuse from both sides of the racial divide. She has been called ‘************ lover’, ‘white trash’. She has been spat at, refused service, heckled, and has faced many other forms of race discrimination because she fell in love with and married a black man.
In fact, Brown told the Sunday Observer that she has never fully warmed to white Americans.
“I don’t socialise with white people in America. Once I started to integrate in American society, I have never been able to relate to white people in America because they are not me. They often compare me to being a white American but I have to explain to people that I’m not. I was born and raised in Europe. I come with a mind that is built on a different kind of foundation. I was raised without racism,” she declared.
The sharp contrast between the mindset among most people in her homeland in comparison with the US gave her a jolt when she decided to live in North America.
Full Hundred
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