Interracial marriage is
defined as a marriage that occurs between two people of different races. An
example would be a black woman marrying a white man or a Japanese woman
marrying a black man. The history of the United States on this subject is very
lengthy. There were laws prohibiting interracial marriages as far back as the
1600’s. The laws were enacted to maintain the purity of the races. Many people
believe it was really to maintain the purity of the white races not the purity
of the minority races. In 1967 the Supreme Court of
the United States (Loving v. Virginia) declared anti-miscegenation
laws unconstitutional(Interracial Marriage, 2003). Even though the laws have changed the legality
of interracial marriage the societal pressures and discrimination have still
kept increases of interracial marriages to a minimum.
The
US Census bureau has reported the following statistics on interracial marriages
in 1960 there were 149,000. The increase went to 651,000 in 1980. Then 1990
there were 1,348,000 interracial marriages. In 2000 there were more than 3
million interracial marriages. In the 2010 census interracial marriages made up
6-7% of the total marriages. The increase is found to be due to a decrease in
societal prejudice and the change of the census forms where they now require
you to fill out all segments of your racial composition. In any case societal
pressure has decreased. Many large cities have less prejudice than the small
rural areas.
I don't know if I mentioned in class some neighbors I once had...they had three children. They were white. One daughter married a black man and had two kids...the mother never spoke to her again once she started dating the black guy. The next daughter was in the military and is a lesbian, in a relationship with same woman for 20 plus years; mom stopped talking to HER TOO when she found out she was gay. THEN there was their youngest child, a son. He married an Asian woman, and I guess she was "white enough" for mom, as this was the only child she spoke to, and she loved the Asian daughter in law. As a child, I could not understand AT ALL how this mother could not see or speak to two kids, displeased at their choices, yet, was OK with the son and his choice. There is still so much discomfort with interracial relationships, happy you chose this topic so we can all read more and think about it. It would also be interesting to see if you can find information on mixed race marriage in Europe, to see if it is more accepted than in the USA?
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ReplyDeleteMy brother is Hispanic and married to a German woman, and their child has blond hair,blue eyes, and is very light skinned. He gets asked all time "is this your child"? When he say's "yes" they just stare in shock and say the same thing "oh, she is beautiful, Im sorry". Sorry for what...thinking what...? Yet I don't know what I would say if people kept asking me if "my child" was my child! Sorry I was just thinking of this while reading your post!
ReplyDeleteWho care of the color. And when did a church say you cant be involve because of the color of your skin? That is horrible. The pastor should not be teaching the word of god. God put us on this earth to love one another and not to fight one another. I be dam if a pastor would have made pick a choice. I would have left that congregation and put the congregation thru a ringer for their action. I definately would inform the diocese and it would be there loss if they dont agree. Screw that, I would go elsewhere. I'm sorry when I see the churches acting in this way, I have a major problem with it. Very well said and great job.
ReplyDeleteChurches are still very segregated in the USA from my view. I know at my Catholic church that has over 600 families that are members, that I have seen maybe 10 families that were other than white, and I live in a racially diverse area. I often sit and look around and wonder if the people who are Black or Hispanic are more comfortable in a downtown Reading church where the congregation is more diverse? Amazing how prevalent all of this still is in today's society.
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