randomWalks

"We live and work in a very mixed community but I'm aware when we go out of London of being in white England, which is very unnerving. I have also faced antagonism from the Chinese community: some people regard me as a barbarian who is stealing their woman. And then there's inverse racism: it's trendy to have a Japanese girlfriend, so people assume she's Japanese, like a collectible. And we've had people assuming she's a Thai bride, and that I've paid for her."

"When we met, the church thought of foreigners, especially black ones, as people you went out to help; you had jumble sales for them. Training for the ministry was fine, but marrying a white woman was moving above your station. If I'd been married to a Nigerian, people would have done things for us. As it was, I was always being asked when I was going back. [...] When I worked in Moss Side I was much in demand by the Afro-Caribbean community, which wanted me for weddings, baptisms, funerals. But I had to tell them that if they couldn't be civil to Jill, I wouldn't deal with them. Whites were always making me an honorary white and telling racist stories in front of me. You start your relationship with the sense that colour is no big deal, but the big deal is foisted upon you.