25: The Black Man Marie Married – Ryan Martelly, Pt 1

In this episode, my son Ryan joins me to talk about his unique and multicultural life. Growing up as the son of a Barbadian father and Bengali (Bangladeshi) mother, he was surrounded by people from all walks of life, nationalities, ethnicities, and languages and was traveling to other countries at a young age. After meeting and marrying Marie, he was shocked to learn that her grandfather would not meet him because he was black and would also disown Marie, his granddaughter, as you heard from her mother, Danielle in My Daughter Married a Black Man (episodes 23 and 24). Ryan talks about his own struggle to come to grips with his identity and how he has learned to represent himself and others as he, many times, finds himself being one of the few persons of color in the room as a leader or when decisions are being made that can affect others.