How to Accept a Family Member's Interracial Relationship

Learning to accept a family member's interracial relationship is imperative if you wish to remain a part of this person's life. Though you may feel your cultural and religious beliefs may give weight to your objections, it's most important to love and understand your family member and hopefully grow to embrace the love that exists in her relationship.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Keep an Open Mind

1. Remind yourself that interracial relationships are extremely common. Not only do interracial couples live happily throughout current society, people from around the world have married and had relationships across religious, national and economic lines for hundreds of years. The United States was founded on the idea of a melting pot, so it is only appropriate that we would see this diversity expressed through personal relationships as well.
2. Talk to your family member about your concerns in an open and non-confrontational way. It's important that you are not aggressive or emotional in discussing your beliefs about the relationship, as it is likely to be an extremely sensitive topic and you do not want your family member to become defensive. If necessary, write down your thoughts on paper or in the form of an email in advance so that you are able to express yourself clearly.
3. Share your personal thoughts about interracial relationships with your family member, explaining that you are being honest and understand that she may not accept everything you are saying. It is best to be candid while respecting that your family member may find your comments upsetting or offensive. Stress that because you are family, you feel that you should be completely honest with each other.
4. Talk about the cultural traditions you are worried may be lost if this person chooses to marry and have children with a person of a different race. Most likely, your family member has no intention of losing his own cultural heritage by entering into a relationship with someone of a different background. Interracial relationships usually benefit when their members share the best of both worlds and accept the traditions of both families into their lives.
5. Discuss the different backgrounds that your own family already shares. In the United States, it's extremely common for people to have parents from different ethnic backgrounds. Many people of European descent have parents from different countries, and others may have different religious beliefs within one household.