Introduction

In the novel, Navigating Interracial Borders, the author Erica Chito Childs’ overall goal is to explore issues surrounding black-white couples. As a guide Childs focuses on three major questions. 1. What social world(s) do black-white couples live in and how do they navigate these racial borders? 2. How do white communities and black communities view and respond to black-white couples? 3. Do they navigate the racial borders by enforcing, ignoring, or actively trying to dismantle them? Childs then interviews fifteen interracial couples for her study. Lisa (Caucasian) and Victor (African American), Olivia (Caucasian) and Frank (African American), Sandra (Caucasian) and David (African American, Nancy (Cape Verdean) and Robert (Caucasian), Brittney (Portuguese) and Mark (African American), Chris (African American) and Victoria (Caucasian), Danielle (Caucasian) and Keith (African American), Jill (Caucasian) and Lee (African American), Kayla (Caucasian) and Hank (African American), Gwen (African American) and Bill (Caucasian), Kim (Caucasian) and Stanley(African American), Jennifer(Caucasian) and Lance(African American), Sara(Caucasian) and Andre(African American), Sharon (African American) and Kevin(Caucasian) and Aisha (African American) and Michael(Caucasian). In Chapter 1 she looks at the ways black-white couples navigate racial borders, “through a discussion of their perceptions of their own identities, their relationships, and the larger societal responses”(Childs 17). When asked to identify himself Lee responded, “I just call myself black. I’m just a black man. That’s it. And I am a black man before anything else. Before my relationship I was a black man and be myself I still get treated the same way” (Childs 20), why does he feel this way? Well I think it’s from past experiences meaning that he looks down on his race: not proud because he views himself as a color and noting more. I feel that society has been very hard on him. How is it possible to think this way? Maybe later in the text he will come to realize that he is something more that color. One the other hand, Victor’s options differ from Lee, he says, “I can remember being one of the first black kids to integrate. I always found myself…even the school I teach in today, I’m the only black teacher. I have to admit I like being the only one, or the first one [black person]. But I always got treated well…however, I have seen the ugly side, like being yelled at by white adults as a child, that I didn’t belong at the white kids…but my mom refused to let it bother us, she always said you are no better than white people, you are no worse than they are, you are all people… I can remember going to school with white kids and thinking they’re just like me. You know, they don’t like homework, they’re afraid of this, they like to dance, they like to party, they swear…I always made friends. Well, I always felt I didn’t want to be treated like a color and I’m not going to let think of themselves as a color. We’re people. You’re humans. I’m human…I refuse to look at color. I want to see your character. I want to see your integrity. I don’t care what color you are”(Childs 21), Victor looks at himself as a person; whole. Color and race don’t matter to him because he is able to look past it and see what is deeper. I look forward to getting a deeper understanding of what society calls taboo.