Relationships In Interracial Relationships

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.

According to Paul R. Spickard, “race is derived from an individual’s ‘physical features, gene pools and character qualities’” (Chávez and DiBrito 40). Counselors Gita Seshadri and Carmen Knudson- Martin define race as the “social identification attached to physical traits such as skin and hair color, despite huge variations among people that are considered a part of a particular racial group” (44). In that case, what is considered to be an interracial relationship? Rose M. Kreider of the Census Bureau defined an interracial relationship as one in which the spouses are “identified as falling into different categories where the choices are: American Indian, Asian, Black, White and Hispanic” (11).

Interracial dating has been considered as unacceptable, and as times has passed, numerous of people have come to accept the relationships of people with

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).

Interracial marriages are still considered taboo in many countries in the world and even in the United States. While the opportunity to marry whoever one desires is a reality in America, it is not always common and sometime frowned upon in our communities. Much progress has been made as a country to allow interracial marriages to be successful, but the American population has had difficulty accepting the legal development that has taken place in our nation. Interracial Marriage has been fought throughout our history but is not an unethical relationship in fact it creates avenues to expand our diversity as a human race.

Being in an interracial relationship made me realize how blind I once was. In society, people have mixed views on it. Being in a different race relationship you are exposed to different ethnicities cultural and religions. From my point of view, I learned a lot in my own relationship, from my partner’s religion, and I can honestly say it’s neat and powering. I thought I would never be in an interracial relationship myself, but from time moved forward it happened I didn’t think anything about it. Whenever I people would ask me what kind of race is he I would say black, they would respond with “wow he is black” my thoughts would be confused. To me, it’s normal nothing new, but his skin color. It’s just like any other person in this world, why define an interracial couple if they’re the same on the inside?

Regardless of our social rhetoric of color-blindness, when it comes to choosing a spouse we seem to be remarkably aware of color, at least we were legally for more than 200 years and despite legal permission, society still exacts a social opinion on the matter. Law professor Rachel Moran examines this issue in Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance and argues that the promise of racial justice is tied to integrating our most personal relationships. It is not that interracial marriages will solve the race problem in the United States. However, Moran argues that the lack of them is an indication of the strength of the problem and that they are

As of 2009, a Pew Research Center survey found that just 6 percent of whites and 3 percent of blacks said they could not accept a black-white interracial marriage within their own family. The increase in the proportion of marriages that are interracial reflects a general decrease in overt racism in the United States over the last several decades. Although overt racism has declined, many researchers believe that individuals express their negative attitude toward other races through “aversive racism,” personally avoiding members of other races while publicly supporting racial equality (Kleinpenning & Hagendoorn, 1993). Aversive racism might include a public acceptance of interracial dating in general, but a personal preference for only dating within one’s own race. This led us to our research question, which is, “Why are there differences between personal attitudes and general attitudes on interracial dating?”

“Regardless, the prevalence of race mixing in the United States is forcing everyone to confront stereotypes and perhaps will engender new discussions about race and diversity” (Interracial Relationships From Opposing Viewpoints in Context, 2006, para. 1). When people have to confront bigotry that they have not had to face on a day to day basis they will start to ask questions. Questions like Why is this the stereotype for a certain race or religion? How can a person stop this hatred? Intermarriage can make the world see how certain races are treated differently and how people who practice certain religions are criticized and ridiculed. A great reason in which race or religion should not matter when choosing a mate because when two people get married they should not be scared of what could happen to

Family member support of interracial marriage plays a strategic role in the assimilation process. Tolerance or outright rejection of interracial marriages by family members represents a significant impediment to amalgamation. Francis (1976) argues that each family of orientation influences the adjustment of both individuals in the interracial. (Lewis and Ford-Robertson November 2010, n.p.)

According to 2000 U.S. census, 2.4 % of the US population which report themselves as people who have two or more races. (United States). The number of interracial couples has reached to 1.6 million, which account for almost 4 % of U.S. marriages. ( Fletcher, par. 3 ). In a melting pot country like the United States, where immigration and emigration rates are high, inter-cultural marriage has become an inevitable by- product of mobility. Interracial marriage refers to a marriage which consists of couples with two different racial backgrounds. For example, a Chinese women married to an American. While the intermarried couples have to adapt their racial differences, their cultural background would assert a

     Racism is a national epidemic. Racial equality and civil rights reach across societal boundaries to protect everyones individuality. Although our nation is based on equality, racism persists and creates numerous societal problems. One increasing problem facing America under the guise of racism is the topic of interracial relationships.

Recent studies have proposed that the rate of acceptance for interracial relationships is increasing since the mid-twentieth century (Feliciano, 2009). However, it is still rare to witness intimate interactions between whites and minorities, in particular with African Americans, despite this upward trend. Most of the data demonstrating white people's rising relationship preferences with minorities is based on self report on internet dating sites, which calls into question if people are being completely truthful when responding to profile questionnaires (Feliciano, 2009). In this review, I will consider the research done by social psychologists suggesting that the increase in interracial relationship preferences is only due to the modern stigma of being seen as racist. Perhaps, it is the subconscious antagonistic feelings towards minorities that truly govern people's relationship

The two articles used were “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation” (Lewis, Ford- Robinson, 2010) and “Marital Dissolution among Interracial Couples” (Zhang, Van Hook, 2009). The first article “Understanding the Occurrence of Interracial Marriage in the United States through Differential Assimilation”, spoke about the unprecedented changes that our society is going though in the 21st century.

The law forbidding interracial marriage was terminated in 1967, and in the midst of rapid racial change, one fact is unmistakable: A growing number of Americans are showing that we all can get along by forming relationships and families that cross all color lines. In the past couple decades, the number of interracial marriages has increased dramatically. Interracial dating and marrying is described as the dating or marrying of two people of different races, and it is becoming much more common to do so. Thirty years ago, only one in every 100 children born in the United States was of mixed race. Today, the number is one in 19. In some states, such as California and Washington, the number is closer to one in 10 (Melting Pot).