Kissing Outside the Lines – An Author Event

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Posted on 27th June 2011 by laneia in Film and Events

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Author Event
Actress and comedian Diane Farr (Rescue Me) will be at Barnes & Noble Tribeca in NY to discuss her introspective and outrageous memoir Kissing Outside the Lines: A True Story of Love and Race and Happily Ever After.

Diane Farr at Barnes & Noble Tribeca
Wednesday, July 6th at 6:30pm
97 Warren Street, New York, NY 10007

About this Author

Diane Farr is a television actress, TV and magazine writer, nationally syndicated columnist, and the author of The Girl Code. She is the female lead on CBS’s most-watched Friday night drama, Numb3rs, starred on the critically acclaimed FX series Rescue Me, and played a supporting role on Showtime’s Californication in its third season; and she contributes to Glamour, Esquire, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Jane, Parents, Los Angeles, Gotham, Self, and O magazine.

Farr lives in Los Angeles, CA with her husband and three children.

About the Book

Diane Farr—Numb3rs star, Loveline veteran, and FunnyorDie.com contributor—always took for granted that she could love anybody she chose. But when she, a white woman, fell in love with a Korean-American man, she quickly learned a tough lesson: When it comes to navigating the landscape of interracial love in America today . . . you’re going to step on some landmines.

At turns introspective and outrageous, Kissing Outside the Lines is Farr’s unapologetic—often hilarious—look at the complexities of interracial/ethnic/religious/what-have-you love, told through the lens of her own experience of dating, marrying, and creating a family with someone from a race and culture different from her own. Along the way, she exposes the many ways in which prejudice rears its ugly head—whether subtly or overtly—when you dare to love “outside the lines,” and she shares the stories of other multiracial couples from different corners of the U.S. who have made a similar leap.

Kissing Outside the Lines tackles love, family, and prejudice head-on. With sharp wit and deft humor, Farr confronts the fears and reservations that come with loving outside of one’s race, and she emerges with a powerful message: Love is love and family is family.

This Weekend’s Important Anniversary – Lovings vs. Virginia

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Posted on 9th June 2011 by laneia in Relationships

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This weekend marks the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case of the Lovings vs. Virginia. The Lovings were an interracial couple that, despite the laws of Virginia banning interracial marriage, were married in the District of Columbia.

After being married, the Lovings returned to their home state of Virginia, where they were arrested and charged with the criminal act of marriage (interracial marriage).

In 1959, the Lovings pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison. In the 1959 hearing, the judge in the case proclaimed that:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix (source).

However, the judge agreed to suspend their sentence on the condition that the Lovings leave the state of Virginia, for which they did. After years of court battles, the US Supreme Court finally overturned the convictions in a unanimous decision, dismissing Virginia’s argument that a law forbidding both white and black persons from marrying persons of another race, and providing identical penalties to white and black violators, could not be construed as racially discriminatory.

It was not until 2000 that the final state, Alabama, had repealed its laws against mixed-marriages. Today, it is legal in all US states to marry inter-racially.

You can learn more about the Lovings at http://lovingday.org/the-loving-story.

Photo Credits: NY times and Associated Press

Location, Location, Location

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Posted on 11th May 2011 by Tunde in Families |Identity

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Location, Location, Location

Recently my son’s school held an International Day where they could dress to show their heritage/culture.  As my three children sat at the table and discussed the best way for my son to accomplish this I observed how “comfortable” they were with being part of two cultures.  They were equally excited to help my son capture both their Black American heritage as well as their Puerto Rican heritage.  They do not claim one more than the other and they identify with both.

I often hear about biracial and multicultural children who only identify with one culture, have a hard time “fitting in” to either of their cultural backgrounds, or just struggle socially all together.  I thought about how my children’s experience may be different from these children .  I came up with lots of possible reasons.  There are the obvious things like, they are being raised by parents who encourage them to be proud of both of their cultures, they are loved and embraced by both sides of their families and they are taught that all people are the same regardless of their heritage or culture.   However, there was another reason that I kept coming to and that is (more…)

46% of Mississippi Republicans Think Interracial Marriage Should be Illegal

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Posted on 23rd April 2011 by laneia in Relationships

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On April 7th, the Public Policy Polling Group released the results of a March 2011 poll that found, among other things, that 46% of Mississippi Republicans think interracial marriage should be illegal. 14% of the polled voters were unsure if interracial marriage should remain legal.

To view the full poll results, click here.

It would have been interesting to dig more into the reasonings behind these feelings. However, the survey neglected to get into that much details.

Why do you think some people hold on to notions that interracial marriage should be illegal?

The Tribeca Film Festival Presents “The Loving Story”

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Posted on 19th April 2011 by laneia in Film and Events |History and Politics |Relationships

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The Tribeca Film Festival Presents “The Loving Story” – Thursday, April 21, 2011 – Friday, April 29, 2011

Director Nancy Buirski says “The Loving Story is first of all a love story. It’s a story of a modest, humble couple who triumph over all odds to reverse decades-old anti-miscegenation/anti-interracial marriage sentiments and bigotry. The Lovings were a couple who wanted the right to love whom they wanted to love, and felt that it was important for other people to have that same right.”

(more…)

I Thee Wed

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Posted on 21st February 2011 by Tunde in Celebrations |Food and Culture |Relationships

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Recently, I stumbled across a TV show called Four Weddings on the TLC network.  The premise of the show is four brides enter their wedding day in a competition to win their dream honeymoon.

All of the brides vote on each other’s weddings in the following categories, Food, Venue, Dress, and Overall Experience.  This particular episode caught my attention because all four brides were from different racial backgrounds and three of the brides were marrying men from different racial/cultural backgrounds from their own.

There was a Puerto Rican and Dominican couple, a Jamaican and Thailand couple and an Egyptian and American couple.  All three bride/groom couple incorporated pieces of cultural tradition into their weddings.  I immediately thought of my own wedding and how important it was for me to incorporate a little bit of tradition from both of our cultures. (more…)