Incidents of racism against Africans in India prompt Ugandan-Indian couple to create the hashtag.

After facing immense resistance for their marriage from their families, Ugandan-Indian couple Jonah Batambuze and Swetha created a hashtag called #BlindianProject to collate stories of mixed marriages and relationships to give them a normal hue.

Born in Chicago to Ugandan immigrant parents, Jonah grew up as an American. Swetha, who was born in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, was raised in the UK. They both met in Ireland in 2001, and got married in 2007 in the UK. They now live in Peterborough with their two children.

Jonah was in disbelief over how his wife’s family reacted when they found out she was dating a black man, according to the Times of India. “Everyone was crying, like there was a death in the family,” he said.

His own experience and the incidents of racism against Africans in India prompted Jonah to create the hashtag. “While the media has covered incidents of violence, they haven’t done much to inspire critical thinking around racism against Africans in India,” said Jonah to TOI. “It forced me to reflect on how trailblazing our unions are.”

Thirteen couples have so far participated in the #BlindianProject hashtag.

While Latha had comparatively liberal parents, she was not allowed to date certain races and ethnic groups because of perpetuated stereotypes. Adrian– being a Jewish of African-American descent- was a “double whammy”, Latha confesses.

2. Love sees no color, no borders.

“Auntie can you #brush my #hair?” Despite fears our extended #family may never come around, our assumptions couldn’t have been further from the truth. The #BlindianProject A post shared by Color Wheel Media (@color_wheel_media) on May 14, 2017 at 8:58am PDT

3. Food unites us all!

“Its kinda like having plaintains and chicken tikka masala all on one plate.” One thing we agreed upon early is that #family is important. To say we are blessed is an understatement. We have a blended family from all over the world and every single family event is amazing and nothing but bonding and learning of all #cultures. ~ @_styves #blindianproject A post shared by Color Wheel Media (@color_wheel_media) on May 13, 2017 at 12:17pm PDT

4. A perfect family moment.

Beautiful #family @90slovejones. We exist, and we are here. The #BlindianProject A post shared by Color Wheel Media (@color_wheel_media) on May 12, 2017 at 11:23am PDT

5. A blissful holiday capture from a global family

6. Putting the mangalsutra on my wife was the moment I have been waiting for since October 7th 2014 ” says Styves Estanus, a stuntman who married an Indian woman.

The #BlindianProject @color_wheel_media confronts the negative stereotypes of “Blindian” (Black x Indian) relationships. Asking for couples and children of these relationships to share their colorful experiences. To participate like @_styves? Tag photos with #BlindianProject A post shared by KampInd (@kampind) on May 12, 2017 at 7:12am PDT

7. Do you see a difference in their joy?

#BlindianProject A post shared by Sibewu Sibby Yose (@sibcool) on Aug 7, 2017 at 10:30pm PDT

8. The father son duo enjoy game day together

9. 10 years strong, and many more.

10. Two engineers met, and rest was history

Had a wonderful dinner at Millennium…an upscale plant based restaurant Nelli has been itching to try….he liked it better than our go to date night restaurant Dosa! #wifeywin 😊 . Random hubby fact: Nelli in Tulu means gooseberry….Happy birthday my sweet gooseberry 🍓 A post shared by Fran ‘N’ Nelli 🇺🇸🇮🇳 (@frannnelli) on Jul 28, 2017 at 11:35pm PDT

11. Love has no language.

My wife always wondered how her family in #India would respond to our #relationship. Would they ever come around? Would they give our relationship a chance? This is Ammama, my last grandparent on this 🌎. Ammama speaks #Telegu, and pretends not to understand English. Even with our language differences we share a special bond. Share your photos by using hashtag #BlindianProject. A post shared by Color Wheel Media (@color_wheel_media) on Jun 29, 2017 at 1:37am PDT

12. Destroying stereotypes, one smile at a time

Together we’ve decided to change the negative #stories of #blindian (Black x Indian) couples one beautiful image at a time. The #BlindianProject @roliss5217 A post shared by Color Wheel Media (@color_wheel_media) on May 28, 2017 at 3:35am PDT

13. Young love, ready to take on the world

Says a lot about you, if you’re not feeling us•• A post shared by YanickNoelle (@highimyanick) on Mar 12, 2017 at 7:13am PDT

14. A marriage to celebrate historic day

Jonah hopes that he sees more “Blindian” couples participate and share their stories — especially from India. “I want to generate a conversation and not just say, ‘A mob beat up an African. Okay, see you tomorrow’,” Jonah added.