“In My Mind, We Are All Humans”

SUMMARY

Using the results of 19 in-depth qualitative interviews and our own observations, we suggest that one interpersonal skill involved in maintaining successful interracial Black-white romantic relationships can be the management of public harassment. Specifically, this refers to the management of evaluative, hostile, and discriminatory actions and reactions that couples receive from strangers in public places. Our informants (10 women, 9 men), all living in the Midwest, suggested that, at the very least, a continuing interracial relationship must learn to deal with many forms of public harassment. Another theme from the reports of our informants concerned the variety of ways that public harassment was dealt with. Our informants (1) reported that harassment behavior fell into the three main categories, (2) detailed the management strategies and attitudes they used to deal with harassment, and (3) indicated how important such public harassment was for the partner choice of interracial couples and, symbolically, for the society at large.

Key Words:

• Interracial relationships
• interracial marriage
• interracial couples
• public harassment
• harassment management strategies