When a Parent Expresses Concern for the Race of Their Child's Boyfriend or Girlfriend, is Their Behavior an Act of Racism?

I've come to believe that Racism in this country, and perhaps around the world, is among the most complex facets and negative attributes of our species and as big as racism is, the bulk of it seems to exist well beneath the surface of things.

With interracial relationships on the rise around the world, it's thrown a few interesting twists into the already complicated realm of racism we see each and every day. Along with the rise in interracial relationship comes an increasing population of biracial people. Here in America, we've obviously became quite the motley bunch. Some people find our American Melting Pot to be absolutely wonderful while others like to write books such as "The Browning Of America".

In one of the Lethal Weapon movies, Danny Glover's character, Sergeant Roger Murtaugh, asks about his daughter's boyfriend wondering of he's "Black". The way the scene was played out reflected that this was actually quite a concern for Murtaugh. This makes me wonder; when a parent expresses concern for the race of their child's boyfriend or girlfriend, is their behavior an act of Racism?

But what if Murtaugh's daughter's boyfriend was a biracial young man, half white and half black? Would Murtaugh still be concerned at all? Would Murtaugh's concerns be somewhat conditional in nature? What if the boyfriend happened to look primarily black, would Murtaugh be fine with it? What if the boyfriend happened to look primarily white, yet was factually the biracial child of a white mother and a black man? Do you see how twisted and complex this can become?

Dictionary.com defines racism as follows:

"A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others. Hatred or intolerance of another race or other races."

Wikipedia.org goes into a much more in-depth definition and you can reference that by clicking (HERE).