One Interracial Relationship, Two Cultures And The N-word
Another issue that has plagued their developing relationship is the use of the N-word. Corrine admits to using the word around Paul, forgetting that he’s white, not black. He says he used it frequently before dating her, believing it to be a slang term, even at one point directly at her by saying “what’s up my n***a?”
“I found out its not appropriate, can’t use it, for either of us, not just for me” he says. They both paused for a moment, as Rick Ross’s “Ten Jesus Pieces” ironically started playing from the room of one of his housemates.
They agree that he never meant ill-intention when using the word, and that he has since stopped.
Commonly linked to the history of slavery in the U.S., the N-word is often heard in mainstream media, commercial hip-hop and rap music and used by some black people to each other. Yet for many, coming from a white person it often evokes emotional scarring from decades of oppression.
Corrine frequently finds herself in this place, protesting the use of the N-word since spending every night at Paul’s house, where his housemates use it freely and sometimes toward her with the same belief that it is slang. She usually passes through her house to grab clothes or take a quick nap. Corrine says there some days when she has doubts whether she is doing the right thing.
Attending private school her entire life while running track, she spent summers traveling the world, eventually earning a full scholarship to college. Her family dynamic changed to one that was struggling after her parents’ divorce, as she now sometimes has to give her mother money to pay a bill or two.
“He doesn’t understand why I should or ever would [give my mother money],” Corrine later says in her one-on-one interview. “[He] don’t know where I’m coming from yet [he has] a second opinion on something [he has] no knowledge of.”
Initial first reactions by the other’s family and friends have made them both weary of the people in each other’s life. From Corrine’s Christmas experience at his house when Paul’s brother announced that he had a black girlfriend, with emphasis more so on the fact she’s black. To Paul’s first meeting Corrine’s friends and one saying “oh, he’s white,” that led him to believe they were racist. They each tread more cautiously, not quite sure of what’s next for them.
“With Corrine, I don’t look at it as this is my black girlfriend, she’s just my girlfriend,” he says.
Jasmine Berry is a senior majoring in journalism at St. John’s University. Follow her on twitter @signedjas.
