'But Dear — He’s Just Not Our Kind!' - Charlie Martin

Whoever is saying it, the real subtext is the same: don’t get out of line, don’t transgress, don’t cross the lines of race or community or class.

I don’t remember where I first heard that phrase. 

I think it was a story about a Boston Brahmin woman explaining why her daughter shouldn’t date a boy from Southfield, but in the last 70 years, I’ve heard the same emotion expressed toward gringos dating Chicanos — both ways... 

Whoever is saying it, the real subtext is the same: don’t get out of line, don’t transgress, don’t cross the lines of race or community or class.

• Especially class — rich girl and poor boy, a little less-so rich boy and poor girl, but she risks being called a tramp and a gold digger by the rich boy’s parents and friends. 
• Stick with your own kind, don’t cross to the wrong side of the tracks...