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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 1976)
mfflDefflott due iieaireia u9 say emlcdifcb mw DyTerri Wills ir Sue, a UNL student, wants to many Jerry. She is white, he is black.- Lincolnites Joscphone, white, and Don, black, already are married. They plan to have children. Amid a history of racial prejudice, a tiny change -toward integrated marriages is beginning to drift across the land. Sues and Jerrys and Jos and Dons are pairing . off "for better or for worse." Josephine (not her real name), 19, works at a quick serve hamburger restaurant downtown. She finished one year at UNL and plans to return, possibly to major in English. Dan works at a university office and is working on his master's in English. " n They met each other a year ago at Neihardt residential center, where both lived. Once they started dating, the ice was broken for other mixed couples there to date, Josephine said. For Josephine, skin color was not important in choosing a man to marry, she said. Cut it was to her parents. And to her so called friends, as she called them. They told her she would threw her life away by marrying a black man. But her parents have had to accept it, to keep correspondence with me," Josephine said. . Don's family accepted the marriage more readily. According to UNL marriage and family instructor Nicholas Eabchuk tills is often the case because blacks, subjects of discrimination all of their lives, do not wast to how piejudice themselves. "They love me" Josephine said of Don's parents. And derpite their disapproval, her parents welcomed Don to their Omaha home, to stay during the summer without any problems. IT ' :v '" - i csrphine and Don, in his late 20s, plan to have children. Their philosophy is that times are changing, and people today will accept their child more than mulatto children were accepted in the pasL Since children from such marriages tend to lock black, they usuy are raised in a black culture, according to Ecbchuk. - Because Don and Josephine work, they are not often seen together in public. Sorr.etir.es when they are, they get a not-so-mnny look or ether unpleasant reaction, they . Th1 is no rule fcrbiidirg interracial rnarrbge m the CathdicChurch or in Prctestast churches. I lowever, nr-lL-? a ckrrynsa to perform the mcnis.32 ceremony Eiltl a diifsrtnt story. Most interracial isamases, such is Jouphe'i trA Den's, ire performed n cvl - AM wist about the ckriymcn-mrniige cc-."I;r-:t dceshs CJnk? The Rev. Edward Tuchek,-maiiicgs cotnsder fof the: Catholic Social Service Center in Lincoln, said there is a greater tolerance today for inter-faith marriages titan there is for interracial marriages. But he believes acceptance of the latter is growing. pies Ln counseling a mixed couple who is considering mar- ; riage (he said he has dealt with a few), Father Tuchek said he warns the couple that "people will raise their eyebrows." - Most engaged couples are idealistic and think they can battle any forthcoming difficulties, he said. This idealism prevents them from looking openly and objectively at themselves. ' The couple must think of their possible children, their schooling, teenage and dating years and eventual interest in marriage. tt 1 How do you think lincolniiscs react to black - whito couples who ore about to bo married? Turn to p. 2 for re culls of our simulated encasement. " "In spite Trf all tills. : .it Is 'tis ccupleYdeciddn?' Lir said. One case which fits the above category is that of a white. 20-vear-old UNL Dsvcholocv maior fSfoe also jkIcJ not to beMM.d,and will be called Sue) and her 26-year-old boyfriend, a black medical student in Omaha (whom we call Jerry). Sue met Jerry at Love library. She said she was frightened at first because she did not know what others would think, seeing her with him. When they started dating, she was sensitive to stares. She told herself she was his friend and she would not fall in love with him. Jerry is the first black man she dated, although Jerry had a white girlfriend before. "My folks always taught me not to be prejudiced," Sue said. "But my dad always made jokes about black people. He isn't mean, just of a different generation." Y5iite her mother doesn't particularly approve of the idea, she has accepted the fact that Sue might marry Jerry and wants what will make her daughter happy, Sue said. Sue's father, however, is opposed to his daughter's marrying a black man. The family comes from a small Nebraska town, with no black residents. The word has spread, and their reputa tion has suffered. Sue said. But Jerrv's Barents, from Omaha, have accepted Sue. By dating Jerry, Sue has caused a terrible rift between her and her father, she said. But her parents maintain she will always be welcome in their home, she said. Continued cn p .2 J nlo JooUc DyTernWHsoa Tho ccr tht couldn't ' Ey I'm Wlliaras 4-5 i J l --- 2 ThD bourgeois p:ekup . Ey Mxrk Yczz Know your tlno g Eyl!cdtYm:s3 ly Jim t fcMitiis 3 ' Psticnt heel thyself - EyRiTSs-si r es s a , co ". i e n o nrs c n o n 6 7