bi-racial family looking to relocate (Birmingham, Huntsville: house, rent, job)

[Twostep]

Blond me is married to an American Indian, my next door neighbor is a single mother of a beautiful mixed child, the other neighbor is Hungarian married to an former Tide football player and she is raising his biracial kids. Birmingham is a big melting pot and very open.

[msjess0125]

So much to talk about!
1) I am a black female married to a white male. I wont go into the reasons why i think black men are more inclined to marry a white woman than the reverse. I live in Mobile, AL with our three biracial children. We moved here from Tampa, FL. In Tampa, my daughter was called a ****** when she was two by a 15 yr old white male. In Tampa, my husband was asked regularly "when did you get into black chicks?!" In Tampa, a white woman said to my mother in law, "Thank God your grandkids didnt get that nappy black people hair!" In Mobile, we get none of the above.
I have found that the really racist people keep to themselves because they know better than to open their dumb racist mouths. I think white people in the South are VERY concerned about appearing racist and keep any curiosity about my family to themselves. Most often I hear simply "WHAT BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN!"...no one assumes I am the nanny when I am with my son who looks almost completely white, something that happened often in FL.

I do agree with the poster who said that if you are in an interracial relationship, expect the stares. I know that my family is not the norm. I am not expecting my family to be invisible. HELL, I lived in Scottsdale AZ and people looked at us like we had five heads each. I had NEVER gotten the staredown so much...

To the poster who said that if you are in an interracial marriage dont have children. Um...wow. Thats pretty ignorant. Everyone will face hardship for something. I am black and because I speak English well I was CONSTANTLY ridiculed by black people for not being "black enough" even tho I never once tried to straighten my hair or wear fake blue eye contacts like some of the people calling me out. My best friend has a big scar on her arm, people tortured HER. My other best friend was the gorgeous most popular girl in school but she had muscly legs, people made fun of her NONSTOP. Do u think for one second these people should not have been BORN!? There are hardships in life, they WILL come, they WILL happen, people WILL single you out and make fun of you for SOMETHING. The difference isnt whether or not your parents should have HAD you...the difference is whether or not you parents prepared you for ignorant comments like...well, like the one you made.

[goodplaces]

I have been around Montgomery in Black-White marriage with kids for ten years--with the only comments being ones of affirmation of appreciation that our lives express the hope and change for which people long.

I understand things can and do happen--anywhere. What matters most is not finding a perfect environment but who we are and who we become; of being instruments of God's peace; of not looking for a place that well tolerate and love us; but of being a special and unique gift of God to those around us.

[mamafrog_03]

My family has always lived in Alabama, and we have so many different races in our family that I can't even count them all. I think you and your family will be fine.

[Catlily71]

Originally Posted by PITBOSS

Ok, interracial marriage has nothing to do with being proud of your heritage? Say if I was concerned with the heritage of my full blooded German Shepard. Would I breed her with a Poodle? I can understand peoples feelings on the subject. I myself am multi ethnic, 1/4 hispanic. I just think these situations will be faced by interracial couples in any city in the US, and if you're truly in love, you'll just have to deal with it, and be strong. Thats life.

Aren't people more than a pure breed dog?

Remember when people get possessed with an animal being to type and keeping the blood pure a lot of inbreeding problems occur. Hip problems, blindness, cancer, etc. All you need to do is look at Prince Charles and see what occurs when people are obsessed with "pure blood".

[susana032]

I moved here the first week in July. My son and I are happy here. Just not a lot to do here. We haven't had any problems so far and everyone around us are generally nice people. They have more problems with the breed of dogs we have than the color of my son's skin.

[thebigr]

Originally Posted by susana032

I moved here the first week in July. My son and I are happy here. Just not a lot to do here. We haven't had any problems so far and everyone around us are generally nice people. They have more problems with the breed of dogs we have than the color of my son's skin.

Not to get off topic but, What type of dogs do they like there? We are planning on moving to Huntsville soon and we have 2 Rottweilers. I hope they fit in. LOL

[Threestep]

Originally Posted by thebigr

Not to get off topic but, What type of dogs do they like there? We are planning on moving to Huntsville soon and we have 2 Rottweilers. I hope they fit in. LOL

Your sense of humor may elude me as I am a cat person.

[Southern by birth]

I have lived in Alabama and Georgia from the 50's to the present. Southerners in general are accepting of good people regardless of race. It is certainly not a matter of "educated or uneducated" as some posters would say. I have known highly educated bigots and tragically uneducated bigots and vice versa. Somewhere around the 70's when school integration was commonplace those afraid of integration found that their fears were unfounded. Sometime at a later time I will write down some of the amusing stories of bigots who became friends with those of other races.

Live anywhere you want in the south where the list of factors you value works for you. that is the same way you would make a decision about any community in the U. S.

By the way, find "something to do" and don't talk about "having not much to do" or it will sound insulting to those who live here. Go to the library and become voracious readers, go on a picnic to the many beautiful areas of the countryside, ride bikes, make family scrapbooks, teach Sunday school, coach a kids soccer team, volunteer at a program to teach English to a hispanic child, teach your children to cook or teach several neighborhood children how to do tricks on a "yo-yo". Whatever you are good at, use to enhance your life and others. If you have spare time on your hands you are blessed. Good luck and welcome to Alabama.

[pitprncss]

TheBigR,

Sad to say but there is BSL (breed specific legistlation) in AL...Im not sure to what breed it is dirrected towards but here is a list of the areas I know of. Gurley, Gadsden, Irondale, Lannett, Midfield, Orange Beach...The only city that has voted against BSL and is safe for your rotts is Montgomery. It is unfortunate that these cities have enforced BSL seeing as it has been proven time and time again that laws like these do not address the problem and are costly to enforce. Even if the ban is not against Rotts it will only be a short time before it is. Cities that support BSL are narrow minded, they tend to support breedism and racism. I know the two are totally different, but for some reason tend to go hand in hand. Good luck, and boy am I surprised to see all the openess with racism.....tell it like it is lmao, me myself I would rather know what I am walking into so that I dont end up having to run out if it .
Me and my husband visited Hayden and it was a very racist community. We had planned on moving there and I will tell you what, we high tailed it back to MI. Not x-ing AL as a whole out, just that part of the state.
BTW, I started a similar thread concerning me and mine....it only got two responses lol.