Pew Research Center 2010

Interracial marriage has been increasing over the past few decades. According to the Pew Research Center, which studies social and demographic trends, interracial marriage has jumped from 6.7 percent of all new marriages in 1980 to 15.1 percent of all new marriages in 2010. In 30 years the percentage of new interracial marriages in the United States has over doubled.

Public attitudes about interracial marriages are changing also. More people are becoming accepting of the marriages. 43% of Americans feel that society benefits from interracial marriages . 44% of Americans feel that there is no difference with the increase of interracial marriage. Then there are 11% of Americans that feel interracial marriage is having a negative impact on society. The public opinion has definitely changed. In 1986, 28percent of people felt that interracial marriage was not acceptable for anyone.

In 2010, 70% of new interracial marriages involved one person who was white. See the analysis above.

11.9% of new interracial marriages were White/Black

14.4% of new interracial marriages were White/Asian

44.3% of new interracial marriages were White/Hispanic

30.4% of new interracial marriages were other not including a white spouse.

 

 

 

(2012, February 16) Wang, Wendy. The Rise of Intermarriage. Retrieved, April 2, 2013, from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org

Loving Day

Mildred and Richard Loving- Put faces to the names and the case Loving v. Virginia 1967

The above picture is of Mildred and Richard Loving. They actually lived in Virginia, which is today uses a campaign to attract tourists called, “Virgina is for lovers”.

The past events might make you question, is Virginia really for lovers? The couple Richard and Mildred were married in 1958 in Washington, D.C. They then went back home to Virginia. One night while the married couple were at home asleep for the night, three police officers busted into their house with flashlights and told them their marriage certificate was not valid. They were arrested, because interracial marriage was not legal in Virginia at the time. They were threatened with jail time of 1 year each. An agreement was made in which neither of them had to serve any jail time as long as they moved out of Virginia for 25 years.

They did move to Washington and after 5 years they really missed their family and friends in Virginia. They fought and had help from the ACLU. Their case reached the Supreme Court. The case was tried and Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the opinion, on June 12, 1967. He said, “anti-miscegenation laws "deprive the Lovings of liberty" and that the "freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness” (Warren, 1967).

Today, a grass roots holiday was created honoring the Supreme Court decision allowing mixed race marriages. The holiday is called Loving Day. Loving Day is the biggest multiracial celebration in the U.S. There is website also which helps educated people about the history of multiracial marriages. www.lovingday.org

(2010, June 11) Loving Day. Retrieved, April 1, 2013, from http://.time.com

Couple Gives Birth to Twins: One Black, One White (03.25.11)

This couple consists of a black man and a white woman. They gave birth to twins. The uniqueness of the twins is that one was black and the other was white. The couple face discrimination  and are often asked questions like; Are they related, are you babysitting, are you sure they have the same father, and some even call the children mutts. It appears that discrimination is very loud in their lives today.  

In 20011 a church in Pike County Kentucky voted and made their opinion clear. They do not want interracial married couples as members of their church. They commented that they are trying to promote more unity in the community and the church.

Stella Harville, pictured above, is in a relationship with Ticha Chikuni, also above. She was baptized in the church and attended many services as she grew up there. Ticha works for Georgetown College and is a native of Zimbabwe. They were able to perform and sing once in a church service. After that church service the pastor told Stella’s father that they could not sing at the church anymore. The pastor left due to health issues. The new pastor said they could sing at the church again. Then later the church voted and took a stance on the issue. They said that they do not condone interracial marriages. Interracial married people could not become members in the church and would not be used for worship services or any other church functions.

                This is just one example of the unjust discrimination happening here in the United States. Stella is pursuing her master’s degree in optical engineering and I hope Stella and Ticha have success and are not jaded by the discrimination taking place in Kentucky today.

(2011). Pike church takes stand against interracial marriage. Retrieved March 23, 2013, from http//:kentucky.com

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.

(2003). Interracial Marriage. Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://.encyclopedia.com

(2010). Census . Retrieved March 18, 2013, from http://.census.gov

 

 

 

March 17

           My topic is interracial marriage and couples discrimination in the United States.  I am from a rural area in Pennsylvania where there is limited interracial marriages. My first thought was that I would research individuals and share their stories of discrimination. I then thought that I need another avenue for research too. I did a search on CNN website for this particular topic of discrimination. To my surprise, I found that as recently as November of 2009 we have documented and proven incidents of interracial marriage discrimination in our justice system.

            In November of 2009 a Louisiana Justice of the peace was pressured to resign for refusing to marry interracial couples.  In October of 2009 he refused to marry Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend Terence McKay, 32.  Keith Bardwell was the justice of the peace. He told the couple that they do not do interracial weddings.  On October 20^th the couple filed a federal discrimination lawsuit claiming he violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment.  After resigning Bardwell said that he wouldn’t apologize for what he had done. He had been refusing to marry interracial couples for years. He truly believed that he was doing the right thing. It amazes me that as recent as 2009 that there are people in the justice system that feel this way.

            Alabama was the last state to have a law on its books which banned interracial marriages. In 1999 a bill was passed to repeal the law from its books. The state stopped enforcing the law decades ago, but the fact is that the law was never removed. As state representative Alvin Holmes said, “These kinds of things represent oppression and slavery and discrimination against black people”. We are not talking about a time frame of the 1950’s and 60’s here. This is very recent and truly shows how much more we need to improve things in the United States.

            In 2004 Craig Holcomb the associate head coach for Iona College basketball was fired. He opened a lawsuit claiming that he was fired for his association with a person of another race. He was married to a black woman named Pamela Gauthier. When Craig asked one of the college officers if they had received his wedding invitation, he responded with,” are you really going to marry that Aunt Jemima?”. I did not find the end results to the lawsuit brought on my Holcomb, but the remark made to him regarding his wedding invitation was completely racist. This type of comment is absurd coming from a person that is representing a college.

            I have found a couple of people that have agreed to share their personal experiences with interracial marriage discriminations. I hope they shed some light on the topic so we can all look at how our society needs to improve.

(2008, April 1). Court: Man Who Says College Fired Him Over Interracial Marriage Can Sue. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://.foxnews.com

(1999, March 12). Alabama considers lifting interracial ban. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://.cnn.com

(2009, November 3). Louisiana justice who refused interracial marriage resigns. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://.cnn.com