For Nikki Patel, a 26-year-old woman in England, some of the most cutting comments about her relationship arrive disguised as flippant observations. "I didn't think he'd be into that flavor," strangers have said, about her white partner. Others have questioned why they are together at all.
Some have referred to her not simply as his partner, but as his "Indian girlfriend," reducing a six-year-long relationship to a racial descriptor, while others automatically assumed she would be white—and that her partner would only mesh with someone white. The remarks are rarely overtly hostile, Patel told Newsweek. More often, they arrive as throwaway comments, assumptions or backhanded compliments.
Yet for Patel, they reveal how interracial couples continue to navigate prejudice in everyday life, even as multi-ethnic and cross-cultural relationships become increasingly visible. "Being in an interracial relationship is not for the weak," Patel added. "A lot of interactions I have had are positive, and people do tell my partner how lucky he is.
"However, I have had a few negative and downright insulting experiences during our relationship." While public attitudes toward race and relationships have shifted in recent decades, the experiences shared by Patel and her partner, and other interracial couples, suggest that quieter forms of discrimination persist. These microaggressions, whether delivered online, in person or through persistent stereotypes, can leave couples feeling scrutinized in ways that others are not. Their stories unfold against a broader backdrop of concern about racism in a politically polarized era.
Last year in a Pew Research Center survey, nearly three-quarters of Americans said Black people and Hispanic people face at least some discrimination, while 66 percent said Asian people experience a lot of or some discrimination. The survey also found that 82 percent believe immigrants living in the U.S. illegally face discrimination. Meanwhile, FBI data released in 2026, reported 10,881 hate crime incidents involving 13,438 victims in 2025.
For Patel, prejudice has come from multiple directions. "One being the comments from white people about how races belong with each other, shouldn't mix and how they don't understand how we can relate to one another," she said. But she says criticism has also come from within another community too.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
