According to the U. S. Census Reports, interracial marriages have more than tripled between 1980 and today. There are currently 1.6 million interracial marriages in the United States, and that figure is continuing to grow (Duru, 2012). Statistics show that over 70% of American society has no problem with mixed race relationships, and 40% of Americans have already dated someone of another ethnicity. For the most part relationships between people of different races are no different from the interactions between people of the same race (Duru, 2012).
the United States there is an increased in racial and cultural diversity. Despite the increased, limited research exists that explores the role communication plays in the initiation of interracial relationships among dating, co-habiting, marrying, or interracial friendships and understanding the factors that influences communication behaviors. I would like a chance to explore the cultural differences between relationship partners in the area of intercultural communication in interpersonal relationships such as intercultural marriages, dating, family and friendship. Interracial relationship is referred as people involving, or co-existing between different races or ethnic groups. It is important to do a study on interpersonal communication among interracial dating or to determine the influence of interracial relationships on the grounds that by large, it is found in intercultural relationship or marriages are perceived negatively across cultural and ethnic groups through the eyes of prejudice and stereotyped through mass media and historical context from the past.
Many interracial couples are faced with negative reactions from society, making it hard for them to have a regular relationship. They have to deal with disapproval from their own race, pessimistic reactions from family and friends, and not to mention the ignorance of society as a whole. Why is interracial dating so controversial? Is not racism a thing of the past, or is that what we would like to believe?
For centuries human beings have been on a quest for love. As time has passed, this search has lead to mixing of races and resulted in interracial relationships, both long-term couples and casual dating.
Back then there were slave masters and slaves. These were the horrible ages of the past. Then later came segregation and the civil rights movement. Still, racial tension increased. Consequently, after different generations of both black and white people, they were all born with a burden into this world. These generations were eventually born into a society with the burdens of their ancestors. The fight against oppression and racism. Recently in the United States, there are many that believe we can all come together and live happily. These people usually pursue interracial relationships. Regardless of our history, we should be able to marry or date outside of our race. Does it pose a threat to either side? No, it does not. People need to think of it as gaining knowledge about other people. It’s an exchange of true love and an exchange of culture that satisfies the relationship.
In today’s world, the exchange of information between individuals is largely based on the media alone. Conversations are held through social media sites, the news channels become the deliverers of new waves of specifically chosen stories, and the rest of the media effects the subconscious of the society. Movies, television shows, and “general” knowledge contribute to the rest of the mass media that affects the minds of people. The subconscious of the people can form the characteristics of the young and solidify ideas within the older population. The problem of the current society is that the subconscious ideas transferred to the media is particularly in the favor of Caucasians. This excludes people of African descent, Latinos, Asians, and other recognizably new minorities such as transgender. The overall effect of this subconscious problem is not very measurably but it can have disastrous consequences within each respective culture. Among all the minorities listed, African Americans and people of African descent have a tendency to be the most often misrepresented.
I found my situation very thought-provoking that my family fell within the “51%” of African American kids that were raised by a single mother. Additionally, it was even more interesting that I fell within the “390,000” of black American male that is in an interracial relationship. Furthermore, Black Demographics (n.d.) states that “while black men marry white women at twice the rate of Black women, only 7% of married Black men had White (non-Hispanic) spouses in 2014. About 14% percent of African American men married non-Black or Hispanic women in 2014. It is Asian women who have the highest rates of intermarriage which is twice that of Black men”. As a result, the interracial relationship between black and white Americans has held strong.
While writing my paper the words of Martin Luther King stayed in my mind and I wondered if my father ever heard them. My father didn't believe in interracial relationships yet faith dealt him another hand. My step brother married an African American women and my father thought he would die. He yelled and
The importance of a strong relationship between the African American community and China is for the relationship to be ongoing. The relationship between the two must consistently continue to grow. They have to continue to develop new ways to interact with one another, understand culture and break down barriers between them. Throughout history, the acceptance for African American was not quite ideal. They had many hardships that created downfalls for them. Reconstructing the truth of being African American was hard for them. That’s why the significant relationship between China and the African American community is important. African Americans today make major contributions to China historical and today society— business, arts and entertainment,
It has long been said that only people of the same race should be allowed to date, marry, and reproduce. Although everyone has their own opinion on the subject, there is honestly no right, or wrong. In today’s day and age the relationships held by people of different races are better accepted than they were in earlier ages when people lived strictly by morals. Interracial relationships have always been frowned upon for religious or moral reasons, but they should be treated with the same respect as a relationship between the same races.
Using the 2008 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), Whites’ attitudes towards dating, cohabiting with, marrying, and having children with African Americans and Asian Americans was studied. It was found that 29% of White respondents reject all kinds of relationships with African Americans and Asian Americans, while 31% endorse them. Second, Whites are less willing to marry and start a family within an interracial relationship than to date interracially. These attitudes and behaviors are related to political conservatism, age, gender, education, and region. Third, White women are likely to approve of interracial relationships for other people but not for themselves. White men however, express more willingness to engage in such relationships
The media is popular for over generalizing people of particular race or background. Usually, it tends to inaccurately present people of specific race or social background. For instance, an average black women representation in the media today is that they are angry, loud or bold. They are promiscuous, an alien creature with curvy features and with big personality. Thus, they are portrayed as just an exotic sexual figure for non-colored men to try. In other words, interest in a black woman only go as far as a romantic or sexual experiment for white men. While there are growing interracial serious relationship between black women and men of different races, prejudiced black women face from stereotypes is more extensive.
Why the Medias Role in Issues of Race and Ethnicity Should be in the Spotlight by Dana Mastro explores the effects of portrayal of race in the media. It highlights the issue of misrepresentation of the media on race; which in turn affects real life interactions between people based on preconceived assumptions that the media creates. This journal supports the point of stereotypes in the media enforcing social inequalities in the forms of prejudice and racialization.
Today, interracial relationships are socially acceptable but that has not always been the case. Rachel M. Moran, author of “Interracial Intimacy,” argues that “the freedom to love across the color line is a recent phenomenon in American history.” As late as the 1960s, U.S. states had the power to prohibit races from intermarrying, at one point, mostly all 50 states have banned interracial marriages. During the colonial era, anti-miscegenation laws were used to define the differences between whites and blacks; the statutes aimed at keeping racial privilege. It was not until 1967 that anti-miscegenation laws were overruled by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia. Furthermore, several other factors contributed to the overruling of statutes
A significant milestone in my psychological history is the absence of my biological father growing up. While my mother was pregnant with me and for a little time after giving birth, my parents were together but because of my father’s addictions and mental health issues they separated. At the age of three my mother remarried a white man and my siblings and I were now being raised in an interracial household. This change in my upbringing and surroundings had a profound effect on my identity because I was no longer being raised in a traditional home environment. Also, the significance of being raised by someone of a different race impacted how I viewed myself, interracial dating and the world.