Interracial Relationships take a lot more time and energy to navigate compared to same race relationships. Why? Because it is a daily commitment to learn & understand race relationships. There will be challenges you would never encounter with same race relationships, and how you respond to those challenges will determine success or failure.         I speak about acceptance versus understanding from a decade of experience within an interracial marriage. In the beginning of our relationship I tried desperately to understand my husband's race, but it left both of us frustrated and questioning if we should go forward with the relationship.         Understanding what it feels like to be a black man in America is something I can learn about, but at the end of the day as a caucasian woman I can never truly understand what it feels like to wake up ten steps behind white Americans. As a white female I am afforded luxuries of stepping out my door into a white world that I did nothing to earn. That is a simple fact. It is something I took for granted until I really started to marginally understand (because that's about as good as it gets, marginal understanding) what free passes I get for just having the "right" skin color!        The absolute best advice I have for anyone seeking out an interracial relationship is to consistently do these 5 things.1. Listen with compassion2. Act with empathy-Don't act like you understand or know the black struggle3. Be conscious about what constitutes a racist remark-This is hard for caucasion people since they have been programmed to act and feel a certain way and most of the time do not even realize we are doing something racist.4. Be proactive when ANYTHING racist occurs. It's not okay to be silent. This could end your relationship even if you are the type of person that doesn't like to engage in conflict.5. Love each other in the recongnition of both your differences and similarities. Celebrate what makes each of you uniquely you and focus on the human bond you share by focusing less on what the world sees with their eyes. When you are in public, emphasize the love and care you have for one another. You may not realize the profound statement this makes on behalf of race relationships!