From Indonesia With Love : T.O.

I was moved to tears as I watched Suleiman graduate with a bachelor's degree in criminology from Carleton University one bright Sunday in June 2011. I celebrated his big day with him and his family, and it was a wonderful celebration. A couple of weeks later, Suleiman and I decided to go on a cross-country road trip, just the two of us. We wanted to spend some time together as a couple, and kind of get away from it all. We got in my dad's old Volkswagen, loaded it up with gas and supplies, and drove from Toronto, Ontario, to Buffalo, New York. We stayed at a quaint little hotel near the Galleria Mall and spent a couple of days walking around Buffalo.

The town is lovely and diverse, but also quite segregated. I mean, the white parts look suburban, quaint and peaceful. The predominant African-American part of town has potholes on the roads, barely-paved roads, and tons of boarded up houses. It's almost as if half of Buffalo is a North American metropolis and the other half is some Third World shantytown. What gives? Suleiman and I saw many disturbing things while in Buffalo. The town is something else, very lively, but it also saddens me. Look, there are some crappy places in Toronto and even Ottawa but in Buffalo, what I saw made me cry.

Next, Suleiman and I drove to New York City, and after eight hours on the road, we pulled over to the side, and slept. We ate at a McDonalds come morning, and continued our journey. We finally arrived in Manhattan a couple hours later, and went straight to a hotel, The Ace Hotel. You should have seen the way they looked at us, a black man and a young Asian woman, with Canadian accents, booking a room at a hotel in NYC. Suleiman and I looked at each other and smiled. Haters going to hate, Suleiman whispered into my ear as we took the key card from the concierge and took the elevator.

Suleiman and I stayed at The Ace Hotel for three days, and explored Manhattan and much of New York City. It was fun, walking around Times Square, and visiting places like the Apollo Theater, and parts of Brooklyn and Harlem. New York City is beautiful, and I saw lots of people of all colors on its streets. Still, after a few days in the City That Never Sleeps, I missed Toronto. Suleiman and I drove back to the border. America is beautiful, the land of opportunity, where racial and religious minorities can achieve things that their counterparts in Canada can only dream of, but it's not home. Toronto is home.

There's no place like home, I said to Suleiman as we stepped out of the car in the parking lot of our building. Amen to that mamas, Suleiman said, patting my ample derriere. We went into the bedroom, hand in hand, and once there, we made love. Passionately. I love this man, what can I say? The day Solomon "Suleiman" Wallace came into my life, he changed it forever.

As a university-educated interracial Muslim couple in the City of Toronto, we knew the odds were against us. We're part of the changing face of Canada. A black man and a southeast Asian woman, both foreign-born and both Muslim, forging a life for ourselves in the great white north. We knew many would hate us simply for being who we are. Nevertheless, we were determined to make our relationship work. And that's exactly what we did, supporting each other in our search for work, fighting for our love in the face of bigotry and intolerance, and ultimately prevailing, with Allah's grace. I thank the Most High for His blessings. Peace be upon you.