Interracial Family Creates Blog in Response to Cheerios Ad

After the backlash to the recent Cheerios ad was blasted across the Internet earlier this month, it seemed inevitable that the many multiracial citizens of this country would respond. “We Are the 15 Percent,”  started by interracial couple Michael David Murphy and Alyson West, is a beautiful tribute to the many interracial families in the United States.

According to a 2008 Pew Research Center study, 15 percent of marriages are now interracial marriages. That’s why Murphy and West began the blog — to show those who still oppose the idea of the depiction of interracial couples in the media that their attitudes are outdated. “We Are the 15 Percent” is simple: it generally features only user-submitted photos of their interracial families, providing for a beautiful collage of different ethnicities and races coming together.

From my personal standpoint, I love to see blogs like this. It proves to the traditionalists how the United States continues to change and progress. I hope that, someday, those people won’t be able to ignore the facts anymore; perhaps they will instead embrace the truth with open arms.

In the meantime, the blog continues to grow with the help of media coverage, and scores of photos are posted in a single day. “We Are the 15 Percent” is a powerful, positive rebuttal to the hateful comments posted to the Cheerios ad on YouTube. I hope that, in the future, we can see these blogs and websites pop up on their own, without any provocation.