No Race Mixing Allowed...unless...

My boss at the Afrocentric clothing store where I worked constantly berated me for dating a white guy, even going as far as making references to the size of his “anatomy” saying that I wanted a white boy because he couldn’t hurt me.

One afternoon I helped a young, Caucasian customer wrap his long dreadlocks in the head wrap that he bought. As soon as he left my boss teased me, “I know you loved that,” he said.

A month later, I overheard my boss discussing the modeling agency he planning on opening with his business partner. “I want the exotic ones. The sisters with the green eyes.” is what he said.

Exotic. I could fill in the blanks. Green eyes, “good hair”, light skin tone. Apparently race mixing was ok with him when it produced exotic-looking Black women.