when race became an issue....(5)

i was reading a case study in preparation for my school counseling class the other day and the following excerpts from a counseling session left me scratching my head: "Lamanda says that during elementary school, she was constantly harassed by classmates about being mixed race. Throughout high school, Lamanda concealed her mixed heritage from her classmates by not inviting friends over to her home. She admits that she is embarrassed by this, and she suspects that her parents realized what she was doing. She now insists that 'I am not black or white, I am me." i'm not sure if these comments would have caught my attention, if i was not currently in a dating relationship with a young woman who is a native of Peru? regardless, it has given me something to consider given the fact that if i were to marry my girlfriend and raise children some day would my "mixed-race" family be faced with similar challenges? i'm not sure, but i do know that race would probably play a much more significant role in my/our lives than before, even if my wife, children and i never considered it a pressing issue. interesting, no?