My names Warren Crock and this is my wife Sherri Crock
and we've been married for seventeen years.
Sherri and I both worked together, when we were-
I was seventeen, she was sixteen.
Worked at a movie theater right off a CN lane.
It was our Summer job.
And, you know, that's kinda how it all started.
[both chuckle]
I thought he was funny.
That's why I like him.
And cute.
[laughs]
Don't forget that part.
[both laugh]
(Warren) I was pretty much the first guy that she had ever-
I was a shy kinda kid, you know, I didn't venture out too much.
And that was my first job and then it was just,
we all got along, everybody that worked there,
we had a good time.
And that's how we dated a lot too, everyone would go in
like, a group.
We would all go out, and so it didn't look like we were together.
'Cause there was other, you know, couples, and... so but yeah
I was kinda that way, you don't really tell me
what I can do.
You know, I just wanted to do whatever I wanted to do.
and I liked him, and he was nice and protective
and he was funny and he reminded me kinda
of my daddy.
It was just, it worked it's way out and you know,
he asked me to marry him, and we did, and we did all of it
in a kinda... undercover.
It was just, worked out like that.
(Warren) I've always told everyone and anybody that will
listen if you're gonna get in an interracial relationship,
and it's something that you really want, you gotta work twice as hard
as the average relationship.
Because of the things that you're gonna face.
I mean, you run the risk of losing your family, your friends,
you got the social pressure.
I mean, it's extremely, extremely extremely a lot more difficult
than just a normal relationship.
I've had offices before where I wasn't really even comfortable
with putting pictures of my wife and my kids up.
Because, you know, not sure how management or upper
management is gonna take that.
Especially back when we were young, when we first had kids.
At our jobs, you were kinda..
I remember first putting a picture out- like, you know,
that's your baby.
[laughs]
Yeah she was caramel. So-
So I'm like yes, and it kinda breaks the ice but you know,
you're kinda nervous to put it out like that.
Sixteen years ago, but yeah.
(Sherri) When we got married, both of our mothers were there.
Nobody else, but we didn't invite anybody else I don't think.
I don't know if they would have came anyway.
[both chuckle]
We had a small inner circle initially, just due to the fact that of the
whole interracial deal. (Sherri) yeah.
We, you know, when we got started it was different
than it is now.
Sherri and I would go to the mall to work, she would walk
five steps ahead of me, that type of stuff,
So, we just had to keep a- we kept our relationship
in the background.
Just due to the environment we were in.
And her parents were reluctant initially,
you know, once we got married, and they got to meet me
and see who I was and grandkids started coming along,
Everything pretty much played itself out.
Her daddy died in '06 and at the time of his death,
I mean me and him were like best buddies
whereas I didn't meet him till we were married.
-Right.
So, we went from that point to--
That's the first time they met, we were already married.
[both laugh]
Yeah, so.
But it's true, when were dating we wouldn't
hold hands, we wouldn't- we walked apart from each other.
We didn't have no public display of affection.
(Warren) My mother was really worried about us initially
to the fact that she thought somebody would come in
and slaughter us in the middle of the night
and all that kind of stuff.
She was concerned for my safety, not knowing-
like I said, she didn't meet Sherri's parents until way down the road
and I didnt meet them until we were married.
So, we really didn't know what we were up against.
Not that we were afraid of Sherri's parents were gonna
hurt us, but we just didn't know, I mean,
you know, I moved from Glenn Oaks in Baton Rouge
where my parents have lived their whole life to
Prairieville, where they were hosting KKK meetings and stuff,
so, there were some concerns initially, on my families behalf
about our safety, but I mean, I was concerned.
I used to have nightmares about someone coming into the house,
hurting us.
And you know, the funny thing- it sounds really funny,
but when I put my family in a car, we travel somewhere,
I make sure the path is a safe path.
We don't go off to backroads, we don't do any of that kinda stuff.
We don't stop in the lil' mom and pop gas station off the road
or anything like that.
We stay on the main highway, and that's due to the fact
that you don't know how people feel around the country,
about our circumstances.
(Warren) I mean, we do not venture off track.
So I mean, we say everything's okay but we still have those deep rooted
fears regarding.
Everybody has fears, but we have those pertaining to our
status.
Even like buying a home, nervous about the neighbors,
what they would think, are they're gonna be ugly.
(Warren) My thing about it all has always been that if
I had a closed mind, or if Sherri would have had a closed mind,
this wouldn't exist.
I wouldn't have met someone that I've been with now for
twenty-two years.
I could have been on my third marriage now,
or my fourth marriage, but, you know, we were open.
We saw love, we found love, we embraced love and
you know, twenty-two years later, we've got each other,
we've got our family, and it's not something that
we feel that we should necessarily promote.
I mean, I just kinda think it is what it is.
You find that someone, no matter what race they are.
That's who you love.
It's that simple.
I don't think it's a thing where you need to hang
a banner and say "Yay, interracial love" and all that kinda stuff
but, if that happens, then you need to open minded
enough to embrace it because with a closed mind,
I mean, there's people walking around every single day
that's closed minded, that may have possibly passed
up on that love of their life, for whatever reason.