Are interracial marraiges a good barometer of race relations in general?

[Relic]

My attempt at a positive thread on race. Please keep it constructive. I love these conversations, but hate when they start to get stupid. Mods, please feel free to kill it asap if it gets goofy. I wont shed a tear.

Back on topic -
The wife and I were talking about this just last night.
I tend to think so.
I figure that if two people can care about each other to not see race as being a barrier - that's great. It's a very personal and private choice and it's not driven by any sort of outside influence. I mean yes, there are interracial celebrity couples etc who I'm sure may influence some folks but in the end a relationship works or doesn't work depending on who's involved and not who's telling them it's "OK". In my entire life I have NEVER seen so many interracial couples as I do now. It used to be a once-in-a-while thing to see, now it's very very common here.

then there are the kids...
We were at IKEA in Philly over the weekend and bored of shopping, I took my son to play in this little ball pit while the wife shopped. I sat there with 3 other couples ALL coincidentally who were interracial. (we are as well) The kids playing in the ball pit were all mixed and I sat there thinking..."wow, 20 or so years from now, how will these kids identify with themselves and each other based on race?" It's great in a way. This will be interesting to see play out.

So do you think that this is just "fashion", a temporary trend or a real sign that we collectively are improving in racial outlook?

FROM A CNN ARTICLE:
The first time Priya Merrill, who is Indian, brought her white boyfriend home for Thanksgiving in 2007, the dinner was uncomfortable and confusing. She still remembers her family asking if Andrew was the bartender or a family photographer.

The couple married last August, and her Indian family has warmed up to her husband despite their racial differences.

"I think we get the best of both cultures," said Merrill, 27, of New York. She added, "Sometimes I just forget that we're interracial. I don't really think about it."

Asian. White. Black. Hispanic. Do race and ethnicity matter when it comes to marriage?

Apparently, race is mattering less these days, say researchers at the Pew Research Center, who report that nearly one out of seven new marriages in the U.S. is interracial or interethnic. The report released Friday, which interviewed couples married for less than a year, found racial lines are blurring as more people choose to marry outside their race.

"From what we can tell, this is the highest [percentage of interracial marriage] it has ever been," said Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer for the Pew Research Center.

He said interracial marriages have soared since the 1980s. About 6.8 percent of newly married couples reported marrying outside their race or ethnicity in 1980. That figure jumped to about 14.6 percent in the Pew report released this week, which surveyed newlyweds in 2008.

Couples pushing racial boundaries have become commonplace in the U.S., a trend that is also noticeable in Hollywood and politics. President Obama is the product of a black father from Africa and a white mother from Kansas. Supermodel Heidi Klum, who is white, married Seal, a British singer who is black.

But not everyone is willing to accept mixed-race marriages. A Louisiana justice of the peace resigned late last year after refusing to marry an interracial couple.

However, studies show that support for interracial marriages is stronger than in the past, especially among the Millennial generation. Among 18- to 29-year-olds, about 85 percent accept interracial marriages, according to a Pew study published in February. Scholars say interracial marriages are important to examine because they can be a barometer for race relations and cultural assimilation.

Today's growing acceptance of interracial marriages is a contrast to the overwhelming attitudes 50 years ago that such marriage was wrong -- and even illegal. During most of U.S. history, interracial marriages have been banned or considered taboo, sociologists say.

In 1958, a woman of black and Native American descent named Mildred Jeter had married a white man, Richard Loving. The couple married in Washington, D.C., instead of their home state of Virginia, where state laws outlawed interracial marriages. The couple was arrested by police. Their case made its way to the Supreme Court in the case Loving vs. Virginia in 1967, where the justices unanimously ruled that laws banning interracial marriages were unconstitutional.

In the decades after the court's ruling, the U.S. population has been changed by an unprecedented influx of immigrants. The growing numbers of immigrants, said Pew researchers, is partially responsible for the increase in interracial marriages.

The Pew Center study released Friday found that marrying outside of one's race or ethnicity is most common among Asians and Hispanics, two immigrant groups that have grown tremendously. About 30 percent of Asian newlyweds in the study married outside of their race, and about a quarter of Hispanic newlyweds reported marrying someone of another race.

David Chen, 26, of Dallas, Texas, is Taiwanese. He is planning a wedding with his fiancee, Sylvia Duran, 26, who is Mexican. He says race isn't an issue, but parts of their culture do play a role in their relationship. They will probably have a traditional Chinese tea ceremony at their wedding.

"The thing that we really focus on is our values and family values," instead of their race, he said. "We both like hard work, and we really put a focus on education."

The African-American population also saw increases in interracial marriage, with the number of blacks participating in such marriages roughly tripling since 1980, the study said. About 16 percent of African-Americans overall are in an interracial marriage, but researchers point out a gender difference: It's more common for black men to marry outside of their race than for black women.

The gender difference was the reverse in the Asian population surveyed. Twice as many newlywed Asian women, about 40 percent, were married outside their race, compared with Asian men, at about 20 percent.

"We are seeing an increasingly multiracial and multiethnic country," said Andrew Cherlin, professor of public policy and sociology at Johns Hopkins University. "The change in our population is bringing more people into contact with others who aren't like them."

The Pew Center also found education and residency affected whether people married interracially, with college-educated adults being more likely to do so. More people who live in the West marry outside their race than do people in the Midwest and South, the survey found.

Cherlin explained why education has helped bridge various races and ethnic groups: With more minorities attending college, education, rather than race, becomes a common thread holding couples together.

"If I'm a college graduate, I am going to marry another graduate," Cherlin said. "It's of secondary importance if that person is my race."

Technology is also making it easier for people to date outside their races, said Sam Yagan, who founded OkCupid.com, a free Internet dating site. He said his site, which receives 4 million unique visitors a month, has seen many interracial relationships result from people using its services.

Adriano Schultz, 26, who was born in Brazil and identifies himself as having a "mixed ethnicity," met his wife, Teresa, who is white, through the site in 2006. A year later, the couple married.

"I don't feel as if ethnicity for us was a big issue," said Schultz, of Indiana. "It was more about personalities and having things in common that really drove us together."

Yagan attributes the increase in interracial relationships to the Internet, which makes it easier to connect with someone of a different race. People who live in a community where race is an issue can meet someone of another race more privately, than say, instead of having to start their relationship in a public setting.

"You don't have to worry about what your friends are going to think," he said. "You can build the early parts of the relationship."

[Mark Latimour]

I don't think they are a barometer of race relations in general, but rather an indication that the particular interracial couple wanted to be in a relationship. I am not sure if you can draw any further conclusions than that. Its perfectly possible that you could have an interacial couple, lets say, white and hispanic, who jointly held racist views about black people or asians. I wouldn't feel compfortable drawing conclusions that just because pockets of interacial couples exist, it means racial relations on the whole are improving.

FWIW I am sort of in an interacial relationship to the extent that I am "not white".

[TheVoiceless]

Yes, and No. I think a vast majority still segregate themselves into race categories. At this point I think we are in the infancy of a global community. I think after 100 years of this happening race will be something only taught in history. For now its still something special. Though I see it more often in the past, its still Taboo in many families.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I don't think they are a barometer of race relations in general, but rather an indication that the particular interracial couple wanted to be in a relationship. I am not sure if you can draw any further conclusions than that. Its perfectly possible that you could have an interacial couple, lets say, white and hispanic, who jointly held racist views about black people or asians. I wouldn't feel compfortable drawing conclusions that just because pockets of interacial couples exist, it means racial relations on the whole are improving.

FWIW I am sort of in an interacial relationship to the extent that I am "not white".

Interesting Mark, but what then do you attribute the increase in interracial relationships to?

[L-A]

The public reaction to the said interracial marriages is a better barometer, it's part of what affects their rising numbers.

[geeza]

I don't think it's an overall indicator of race relations as much as it is an indicator of levels of tolerance of individuals.
My question is this: why do you see more black guys with white women than you do white guys with black women?

[stratovani]

Originally Posted by TheVoiceless

Yes, and No. I think a vast majority still segregate themselves into race categories. At this point I think we are in the infancy of a global community. I think after 100 years of this happening race will be something only taught in history. For now its still something special. Though I see it more often in the past, its still Taboo in many families.

I agree. About 80 years ago my great-grandparents married and scandalized their families. My great-grandmother was French-Canadian Catholic and my great-grandfather was Danish Presbyterian. They were in a happy, loving relationship until the day my great-grandfather died in 1950 (I never knew him, since I was born four years later), it just shows how wrong their relatives were. It's only been a recent thing to have marriages of mixed race, ethnicity, religions, or genders. When I was young even looking at a black girl a certain way was taboo. Nowadays an interracial couple don't even merit a second glance! There is progress being made but progress can be a slow thing sometimes.

[stratovani]

Originally Posted by geeza

My question is this: why do you see more black guys with white women than you do white guys with black women?

I don't know why! There are a lot of very good-looking black women out there!

[Relic]

Originally Posted by geeza

I don't think it's an overall indicator of race relations as much as it is an indicator of levels of tolerance of individuals.
My question is this: why do you see more black guys with white women than you do white guys with black women?

I don't know about that...I see that as also changing..it used to be pretty standard in my area at least - black male/white female, or white male/Asian female. But I know two black females, both are now dating white men. At my son's high school, he's shy, but is getting regularly asked out on dates by black girls.
(my oldest son from my first marriage is white. It's my youngest who's mixed) So I just dont see that being true anymore.
I see many Asian female/black male couples and Asian male/white female couples - Hispanic/ Asian mixes.
I just cant see how this cannot be some sort of sign of change. It may not happen in our lifetimes, but mixed race kids being exposed to parents and extended families of various races... call me naive but I think it's going in the right direction.

[jmattbassplaya]

I don't really think it is. I personally have no problem with interracial marriage, just like I have no problem with gay marriage, however, I'm not going to go out and marry an Asian woman or a gay man simply because I'm not attracted to those sorts of people. Now there are some people of different races that I find very attractive, but for the most part I just naturally find myself much more attracted to people who share my own complexion.

[pacojas]

here's a theory,... breaking taboo's leads to a bigger orgasm.

[MadMan118]

While I am totally for interracial relationships, my family is a collection of xenophobic, racists. They believe that I should only date and marry Japanese women who are the children of close family friends. They're stuck somewhere in the middle ages. However I was raised in a predominantly around white people. Most of my friends are white, most of the women I've dated are white. I find that individually people are for interracial relationships while their families may not be.

[geeza]

Originally Posted by stratovani

I don't know why! There are a lot of very good-looking black women out there!

I agree.
One time at work, I was with a group of black men (about 4-5) talking about interracial couples. One of them asked me if I would ever consider dating a black woman. I said "of course I would, there are a lot of hot black women out there." Every one of them seemed surprised at my response. I'm not sure why.

[EricF]

I tend to agree with you on this, Relic.

[Dr. Cheese]

I think actual interracial marriage can be seen as a barometer of "race relations." A willingness to marry someone from a different racial group, and to have that person accepted into the family unit cannot help but affect how racial groups are percieved. I think this is especially true between blacks and whites when black men are able to marry white women, and be accepted into the wife's family. Traditionally, white men have had more leeway in choosing partners than white women. This stipulation is important because all throughout slavery and segregation, there were no shortage of undercover racial liasons that simply saw obviously biracial kids simply considered black and absorbed by the African American community.

I do not see interracial marriage or relationships as any sort of panacea for racial issues. People still bring their baggage to a relationship, and in this case, race is part of that baggage. Biracial progeny can take many approaches. Some will heavily indentify as black, others will tend to avoid blacks. A few will try to split the difference or try to transcend categorization.

Oh well, that's enough rambling for now.

[Deluge Of Sound]

I don't think so, no.

[zenrad]

Ok, so I thought of these, the first one is kinda long, but it's humorous
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyRW...eature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI3lPLsbwjw

[Smokin' Toaster]

Sure, anytime two people of different races form a couple a Klansman hangs up his robes and one of the New Black Panthers puts down his baseball bat and lets someone of a different race vote.
Seriously, It’s great when two people get together regardless of their race and generate a little more love in this world. But I don’t think it’s a barometer of anything. In fact, I think some young people are using it as an expression of teenage rebellion, after all, most moms and dads today, while they may not be full blown racists, would rather their kid marry someone “like” their kid.

And FWIW: I’m German-English-Irish-Native American and my wife is German-Native American. Are we an interracial couple? I know we are a mixed marriage; she’s a woman and I’m a man!

[karrot-x]

I'm Italian-Irish-French Canadian-German and I'm dating an ABT (American Born Taiwanese) .

5 1/2 years so far, she's probably going to want to get married at some point...

[FL Knifemaker]

At this point, I'd be most likely to date a woman from whatever race is most moob tolerant