Jonathan and Yumi

Jonathan - Mother from the UK, father from the U.S.A - Shop manager

Yumi - Parents from Japan - Student

Jonathan - I have had the privilege of being brought up in two different societies and countries. Firstly, I was born and raised in America where I lived until arriving in England in 1986 when I was 13. Both my parents are descending from completely different backgrounds and upbringings, dad from a Black working-class family from the “deep South” of Alabama, and my mum from a White middle-class family from London. Then giving birth to my sisters and creating a happy mixed race family that we are still today. My parents educated us to all realise our skin colour was of importance but to maybe expect some prejudice against us but to ignore it. Being very young at the time, I could not understand this. It wasn’t until I arrived in England in my teenage years that I first experienced racial abuse. I noticed that in America, there was a lot more Black and Mixed Race individuals and all my friends were from many different backgrounds. When I arrived in England, I first moved to South West England into a small village of 5,000 people, where my sisters and I were the only mixed race children. This I found strange and very much a culture shock. Moving to London opened my eyes and made a big difference towards my attitudes and consciousness. I have now grown up to feel very open-minded about race issues and feel London is a very multicultural city and “melting pot” for meeting people of all creeds and colours. It has been here that I have had this wonderful opportunity to meet my present beautiful Japanese girlfriend Yumi, of which I take great pride to be with today.

Yumi - I have been to some countries before I came to London but I have never had friends outside Japan. I haven't thought about race, culture and colour much when I lived in Japan. This is because it is customary that we don't really integrate with foreigners. Since coming to London, I've had great pride from meeting many people from all different backgrounds. I'm really enjoying getting to know their culture and socialising with friends from all over the world. I'm happy to be in a mixed relationship with Jonathan. We have learnt so much from each other, experiencing our different lives.