Saturday, 4 August 2018

My stepfather made racially-charged comments in the presence of my biracial daughters


I have four children. Twin girls who are 19 and two boys aged 13 and 9. My kids are biracial. I'm white and American, and my husband is black and French. Our daughters were born in France but we moved to the States when they were babies.Our twin daughters are in college. They're on summer break. After finishing their freshman year, they visited my mother and her new husband (she's on number 3) for a week. They've been married for 8 months. My daughters visited my mother during the time of the World Cup. They watched the final with my mother and my stepfather.My daughters were rooting for Les Bleus (their father indoctrinated them since they could talk - he became mad with joy after France won). When France won, my "stepfather" said Croatia would've won had they been facing "real Frenchmen." My eldest daughter asked him to clarify on the statement. He then went on to say that the French team wasn't really French, and that it was a team full of immigrants. My daughters knew exactly what was trying to say.One of the white, French players was born to a German father and a Portuguese mother. My daughters asked my stepfather whether he objected to this player's presence on the team. My stepfather said no he didn't, because "he was a true Frenchman." Then they dropped the bomb that this certain white player was actually born in France to immigrant parents (same thing with their father) just like many of the other players.And then the true nature of my stepfather's character was revealed. He began to complain that the team was "too black and too African" and that it wasn't really France that won the World Cup, but rather a collection of African countries. He went on to say there should be "limits" on how many "non-native" athletes can represent ANY country at major tournaments. He claimed he wasn't a racist but rather, "realistic."My daughters left my mother's house politely the next day. My mother tried to get them to stay. After my daughters told me, my mother phoned and said her husband was drunk when he was speaking these things. She said he has tendency to say "stupid things" when drinking. And that he wasn't prejudiced in any way. They had a barbecue last week but after I sat down with my family and our kids, we came to the conclusion that we wouldn't be comfortable attending, and so we didn't.After I informed my mother of our decision, she started screaming down the phone (we've never had the closest relationship) and accused me of using this incident to poison her grandchildren against her, and that this was something I've always wanted all along. I cut the line, but I've been hearing from extended family about what she's saying about me. My kids say they don't want to be around that house and my husband and I are 100% behind them.My mother keeps making noise to anyone who will listen and I'm finding it exhausting. Anyone else ever dealt with such a parent? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2nbYVai

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