Mom Lists All of the Things That 'Changed' After Marrying a Black Man & It's Heartbreaking

I have to drive basically anytime we are leaving the Dayton area. We don't talk about it each time, we just both know that if we are leaving our general "safe" area and heading to smaller town Ohio roads, I'm the one driving.

I have to handle store clerks, returns, getting documents signed, anything with any federal building or administrative work, I get further with any type of "paperwork" thing that needs to be handled, people listen to me and are much more agreeable than with him.

The chances that we find a Black or interracial couple on a greeting card are slim. Unless you want to give the same Black Couple card every year, which we have. There are hundreds of white couples to choose from though!

When doll shopping our daughter gets 25 white options and one or two Black or mixed-race doll options.

My husband goes out of his way to be nice and talk to everyone. Not because he's a people person, but because he has learned that a 6'5" Black man intimidates people and so he overcompensates by being overly friendly so people won't be afraid of him.

If Walter is pushing the cart, I always have to have my receipt ready when leaving the store.

None of our neighbors thought we owned our home, and multiple neighbors stopped my father and asked him if he was the new landlord for us. Because, of course, the old white man must have purchased the home. Not only do we own our home, it's fully paid off, we have no mortgage and we paid for it by ourselves.

It took us years to find a church without racist undertones and low-key racist members, years!

If we go to Bob Evans (or any restaurant that caters to "seniors") too early, we are met with a lot of stares. The old racists eat between 4 and 5 p.m.

The same people who stop us daily to say how adorable our daughter is are the same people who would cross the street if Walter was walking alone.

When Walter goes to a playground with our daughter he constantly stays by her side. If not, he gets stares and people wonder what the "big Black man" is doing on the park bench.

Walter is concerned our Black Lives Matter sign by the door will make us a target when he is not home, so he asked me to remove it.

This is just a small glimpse into the intentional and unintentional racism that happens everywhere, all the time. I want a better world for our daughter so I'm happy that things are changing. I know a lot of you are tired of the protests and tired of the changes and tired of people complaining.

I'm tired of my husband having to talk to everyone and never complain even when they mess up his order 10,000 times. I'm tired of driving d--- near everywhere, I'm tired of the sick feeling I get when a cop pulls behind us. I'm tired of having to worry anytime my husband has to work overtime and leaves in the middle of the night.

I'm tired and I've only been on this ride seven years.

Imagine a lifetime of this!

This post was republished with permission and first appeared on The Chandler Crew Facebook Page.