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
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6
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