My name is Tina Chretien. I'm a six-foot-tall, lean and muscular yet deliciously big-bottomed Black woman of Haitian descent attending Hampton University in the city of Hampton, Virginia. I'm the proud recipient of an academic scholarship and major in criminal justice. Someday, I'm going to be a U.S. Marshal like my father Raymond Chretien. He works for the U.S. Marshals Office in Washington D.C. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying my college days. Dealing with whatever life throws at me. Recently, I got engaged to this tall, dark and handsome young man named Anthony Jefferson. Everyone calls him A.J. He goes to Old Dominion University, for whom he plays football. In the eyes of everyone on my campus, we're the golden couple. A tall and sexy sister dating a tall, dark and handsome, smart and charismatic brother. Yeah, we seemed destined to have it all.
A lot of people seem to have lost faith in relationships between black men and black women. I'm shocked by such people. I don't know of any couples who don't have problems. When I was growing up, my neighbors James Stiles and Jason Miller were an openly gay African-American couple who ran a bookstore together. They were a charming duo, friendly as can be, yet they too had their problems. My parents had their problems too. My mother Danielle Seid Chretien worked as a corrections officer for our county. She worked long hours and the fact that my father was often away on special assignments also wreaked havoc on their marriage. Still, they found a way to make it work. They've been married for twenty five years and they're still together. Relationships aren't easy. They take a lot of work. You've got to fight to keep those you love.
And don't get me wrong, I love Anthony. This six-foot-one, chubby and ruggedly handsome Black stud is something else. Born of a Haitian mother and Native American father. In the eyes of the media, he's one of the demigods of the fast-paced world of NCAA Football. In my eyes, he's simply my man. Anthony is a quiet, easygoing guy and that's what I love about him. A lot of people think college football players are loud, boisterous guys who think they're all that. That is such a stereotype. Anthony comes from a deeply conservative and religious household. His mother Marie Jacques is the Pastor of the Haitian-American church of Gethsemane in Hampton, Virginia. His father Jerome, a native of northeastern Arizona, is a proud member of the Navajo Nation. One of the largest Native American societies of today. My man is proud of both halves of his heritage and I respect that about him. Like me, he wears red and blue on May 18, internationally known as Haitian Flag Day.
