{"id":6651,"date":"2017-01-14T13:43:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T13:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=6651"},"modified":"2017-01-14T14:09:15","modified_gmt":"2017-01-14T14:09:15","slug":"white-teenager-raises-15k-for-college-says-parents-cut-her-off-over-black-boyfriend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=6651","title":{"rendered":"White Teenager Raises $15K for College, Says Parents Cut Her Off Over Black Boyfriend"},"content":{"rendered":"
Allie Dowdle says her parents cut off her college fund because her boyfriend is black. (Photo: GoFundMe)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A white high school senior who says her parents cut her off financially after she continued, despite them forbidding it, to date her African-American boyfriend, has raised more than $15,000 in a day through her GoFundMe page.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a year ago, I told my parents that I\u2019d started dating a boy named Michael, pictured with me above,\u201d writes Allie Dowdle, 18, of Eads, Tenn. \u201cHoping to share him with my family, I showed my parents his picture, and the conversation was over before it even began. My dad did not give me an option: he told me that I was not allowed to see Michael ever again. Why? Strictly because of skin color. It wasn\u2019t a quiet \u2018no,\u2019 either. I\u2019ll never forget the yelling my parents did, when they expressed how disappointed they were in me, that I could do so much better. I did not know what to do. I couldn\u2019t comprehend how someone could be seen as less because of pigment. I still can\u2019t comprehend it, and I never will be able to.\u201d<\/p>\n

After continuing to discreetly date Michael \u2014 reportedly a college soccer player named Michael Swift \u2014 the couple again approached Dowdle\u2019s parents, she says, who then decided to cut her off.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I am 18, my parents have chosen to no longer support my future, stripping me of all my resources including my personal savings, my car, my phone, and my education and leaving me on my own to pay for college,\u201d writes the teen, who shares that she has maintained a 4.0 GPA since ninth grade at her private school and completed a two-month surgery fellowship at a local hospital. \u201cUnfortunately, I will no longer be able to attend college if I cannot come up with the money somehow.\u201d She adds that she\u2019s received some scholarship money, and cannot find a job because she does not have \u201cconsistent transportation available.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Allie did not immediately respond to a request for an interview. Yahoo Beauty also was unable to reach her father, Bill Dowdle, the owner of a sporting goods store, who told the Daily News<\/em> \u201cit was never about race,\u201d that he is not a racist, and that his daughter\u2019s race-based story is \u201ca justification and gave her the moral high ground.\u201d He explained that he decided to cut off his daughter\u2019s college money because \u201cit became obvious that she needed to go out in the world and grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Allie clearly has a lot of supporters based on the remarkable amount of money she\u2019s been given in just one day, her cause has also attracted a number of harsh critics, who call her campaign, titled \u201cAllie\u2019s Tuition \u2013 Say No to Racism,\u201d one that is \u201coffensive,\u201d \u201csteeped in privilege,\u201d and \u201creally insulting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSending a white girl from a middle-class family to college is not fighting racism,\u201d noted one GoFundMe commenter, Marissa Kizer. \u201cIn fact, expecting to avoid work, student loans, etc. and be treated like a hero for dating a black guy seems pretty racist to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another commenter, Susan Martin, noted, \u201cThis campaign is highly offensive. Saying no to racism has nothing to do with this situation. Dating a black man and sending a privileged white girl to college who can\u2019t get a job because her parents took away her car is absolutely ridiculous. Take a bus. This campaign is an absolute insult to the millions of people who have been supporting themselves (and their families) for years, even before \u2018they were 18,\u2019 the millions of people struggling with student loan debt, the millions of people of color who are confronted with the behemoth that is racism everyday\u2026 Your struggle is so not real.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detractors also spoke up on social media.<\/p>\n