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Show BY PHILIP M. HOWARD Chronicle Staff He is black. She is white. His name is Eugene Orr. Hers is Lei. They arc married, in love and what does it matter if their skin is not the same tone, or their cultures are different? dif-ferent? According to Mr. Orr and other campus couples inter-racially married, mar-ried, the people who make up our society tag such mixed marriages as bad. "We don't have any problems, Mr. Orr said, but other people have problems accepting us." "Discrimination in Utah is underground. under-ground. It is felt and kept quiet. I even feel it here at the University. People in Salt Lake just don't expect black and whites to be married. He says there are many examples ex-amples of this in the daily routine of living. "It's little things like these we've had to get used to. I'm a host for Internationa Tours of Salt Lake, and the other night, for example, I brought my wife and two kids from my previous black marriage to our meeting. Well, one of the men said, where's your wife? . . . and she was standing I wSaherahSS I '.shehadnaS with a person from an: ' tty" And' as il turn?"' added, ",he gir mine. 1 Hi: And so now thev i married about a VJ )M: daughter named 1 originally from Lo '' has lived her for the 18 She has a degree WDjt history from and as she puts i, 5 slowly for her mast'c J f Eastern studies and Atab? Mr. Mukhar 23 from Palestine, bu,' Pents in 1948 ,0 Jordan. His father is J in Amman. Mr. Mukhar ,ke tosetaPhDi"' law after completing his ; graduate work in po-i,.,,; :. He says he would like to C to Jordan and help his The parents of both tt. have met the newlyweds but' Mukhar admits that her f--was expecting to meet . very dark and Moslem - V one like Sinbad the Sailor,"' you see on television, she jokingly. "But actually, I," being Greek Orthodox, i: band has a fair complexion eyes and dark hair) and he i" tall." What's more, she says , friends were all for there, and gave encouragement, t. seemed to be others aroor: who raised questions such, you really sure you wanttcc an Arab? Or, shouldn't yoi for an American? "But all 1 could answ' -says, "was I love him aii: what really matters." The Mukhars say there ; discrimination at the Univeri in Salt Lake towards their riage. They attend many affairs on campus, and hr variety of friends. He its cook Arabic food, and his says she is learning to bake.fc bread. "Elias is really i; cook," she added, "era mother was surprised k came here last year. 6 "We seem to have more white friends than white enemies, and you can't say just because she's white and Vm black, we have had bad experiences. Many black marriages have their problems, prob-lems, too. " Mrs. Mukhar admits that her family was expecting to meet someone very dark and Moslem -''someone like Sin-bad Sin-bad the Sailor, that you sec on television. " " think it is an education in itself, when he brings his friends over from the Arab countries such as Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia." 'Society only fags mixed momoge os had' right next to me. And later the same guy asked me if those were my kids, in an effort to make up for what he had said earlier. But he kept making more mistakes." Moreover, for Mr. Orr, the black community has mixed feelings about his marriage. He says the males aren't as much of a problem as the females. They don't actually come out and say it, but he often gets the feeling certain black women want to say, "Why didn't you marry your own kind?" Then there is the experience of living in a white community. "Someone called the Board of Health and said our house was unfit to live in, and our back yard was filty," Mr. Orr said. "When the Board of Health official came to investigate he found everything in order and couldn't believe anyone any-one would do such a thin I asked him who complained. Ik said he couldn't give out that kind of information. So, I figure, the only way I'll ever find out is to take it to court." All in all, he added, "we seem to have more white friends than white enemies, and you can't say just because she's white and I'm black, we have had bad experiences. experi-ences. Many black marriages have their problems too." Understandably, says Mr. Orr, his wife's family wasn't for the marriage. They tried to tell her for many months why she shouldn't marry him. But on the other hand, his family completely accepted ac-cepted her, and came to Salt Lake for the wedding from their home in Orlando, Florida. He says, "I wasn't looking for a physical thing with a white woman or a black for that matter. I was looking for a deeper quality or trait that I found in my wife. She was a person who had the same goals in life that I had. For Mrs. Kay Mukhar, 22, from Salt Lake, Arabic used to look almost as if a chicken got loose with ink-wet claws and was trying to scratch them dry on the paper But now things have changed for Mrs. Mukhar, since meeting her husband Elias two years ago on a blind date. He is from Amman, Jordan and is studying "I believe in equating education edu-cation in a marriage, but still women are more delicate and feminine than men. " 9 "I think it is an cctai itself, when he brings his t" over from the other An, tries such as Lebanon, Lib)) Kuwait and Saudi A interesting to learn thefc customs of dicse people. t notice how some gel t canized. "But I must admit U-can U-can hardly wait until IF in his country, so he can a' foreigner." However, Mrs. Mukharis--standably friglitencd at the; pect of living in a foreign , when the farthest east been is Texas. She saysi"; to break die ice a bit parents came here M is she does write to his s- time. j But as he added, V be most welcomed .n Jj just has to act natu j people there take you yVare.IfthereisW J not be directed , American people, (; s the government s ( States, or for tnai , f Soviet Government ais- f So, it all adds up love. And skin col J |