A Tennessee high school senior has raised more than $12,000 for her college tuition after claiming her parents cut her off when she started dating an African-American student.
Allie Dowdle created a GoFundMe account in a desperate attempt to raise money to pay for school after her mother and father said they wouldn't give their financial backing - because they didn't approve of her new boyfriend
The 18-year-old claims that when she told her parents she was dating a black student named Michael Swift, her dad told her she was not allowed to see him again
She said
'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,' she wrote on the GoFundMe page.
Dowdle said she and her boyfriend have been seeing each other discreetly since she told her parents, but things went awry over Christmas when Swift approached them again
Her father, Bill Dowdle, told the New York Daily News that issues with interracial dating in the South means the relationship wouldn't have been his 'preference'.
But he has insisted that his attitude was 'never about race', and is adamant that he isn't a racist.
Dowdle's father told the Daily News that he and his wife would accept whomever their daughter wanted to date.
According to Bill Dowdle, he and his wife disapproved of Swift in part because Allie had started seeing him in secret.
Dowdle (left) said she and Swift (right) have been seeing each other discreetly since she told her parents, but things went awry over Christmas when her boyfriend approached them
According to Dowdle's father, Bill Dowdle, he and his wife (pictured above) disapproved of Swift in part because Allie had started seeing him in secret.
Her father, Bill Dowdle, said that his daughter dating a black man may not be his 'preference' because of 'issues' involved with biracial dating in the South. He said that he and his wife disapproved of Swift (left with family) in part because Allie had started seeing him in secret
White Parents Disown their Daughter for dating a black man