How Do You Feel About Interracial Marriages?

[Julia]

How do you feel about interracial marriages and relationships?

[Clinton]

Hi Julia,

Personally I am all for them... the only reason to avoid interracial relationships would be to avoid pissing off bigots... and personally, I LIKE pissing off bigots... that is me!

More seriously... It is only an issue if you let it be an issue... go to any major city in the western world and you will see a whole bunch of interracial couples... it is just not that big of a deal.

[Anthony]

Many people feel that interracial marriage is very difficult to sustain and therefore more liable to end in divorce than a same race marriage. However, do you think this is correct? If you look at the statistics, you will actually see a larger number of divorces in favor of same race marriages. You would argue here that this would be because there were more same race marriages than otherwise.

Let us compare the possible problems stemming from an interracial marriage as compared to a regular marriage.

The Differences In An Interracial Marriage

It is true that there would be differences in cultures, backgrounds, religions and even language sometimes. However, the same could be true with the same race marriage. Then there is the possibility of facing strong opposition from the families of those who choose to marry interracially. The same would be possible with regular marriages - this is highly accentuated when the societal strata or educational background differs. Lastly, the society in some places might not fully accept the association. This is the only problem that a regular marriage may not have to face.

Now, for one moment forget about the racial issue. Let us say that you cannot see the exterior and at the same time, imagine these two people studying together at Harvard or working together in an office shoulder to shoulder, falling in love and marrying. Don't you think that a marriage between two people who share such a lot in common (educational background, official duties - for a long time) would be successful?

An interracial marriage is a difficulty only when there are other differences in the relationship, such as mentality, economic background, educational background and religious beliefs. These are the same in regular marriages either. Similar criteria apply in any same race marriage. In fact, there are possibilities that the spouses would be more dedicated to the marriage because it is interracial and they would be afraid that they would loose one another because of this difference. Otherwise, marriage is normally first a union of minds and the bodies.

Therefore, no one can really say that an interracial marriage is any worse than a regular marriage. This is a marriage like any other - which requires a lot of love and toil to make it work. Whatever the differences, it all depends upon the approach to make it or break it. Very often big differences such as religion, culture, and ethnic background pale into comparison to the smaller day-to-day differences that the new couple has to negotiate. The success of marriage depends upon how they resolve these seemingly small problems more than those larger than life differences.

[Ella]

In the past, interracial dating was a very uncommon and rare thing to see, and it would be dangerous to be seen in public with someone of a different race. This was mainly prevalent with African American people dating whites. Whites who were in privileged social circles believed that people of color had no right interacting with them.

There are no longer anti-miscegenation laws therefore allowing couples of different racial backgrounds to enjoy the same rights and privileges of any other couple, and issues against interracial relationships are now, more than ever, being contested.

In interracial marriages, people may deal with differences in culture, up-bringing, religion, and even language. Also, an the couple may face very strong opposition of their union from their families and society. This is most definitely the main difference in marriages of the same race and interracial marriages.

Too stop the sugar-coating I'll just say it was widely frowned upon to date, let alone, marry someone of a different race in the past. Fortunately, the world has moved on, and it is no longer against the law to date outside your race. Now, while those laws have been lifted, that doesn't mean problems aren't being faced.

Interracial marriage problems are all the problems you experienced while you were both dating. You may face ridicule from society, or from your family. With all that, the biggest problem is gonna be determining how strong you both are so that you can stand together against all the ridicule.

People experiencing interracial marriage problems most definitely experience different problems than that of a same race marriage. Marriage is a process, and all the problems you face in it only make it stronger when you overcome them.

[Sofia]

Usually quite less active relating to the interracial dating scene in comparison with other female races, Black women are becoming more open to the idea of dating non-Black men. As the statistics consistently strengthen, we've found that Black female and White male matrimony rates are a lot greater than every other non-black group. Black females are more inclined to date and then wed White men than wed Hispanic and Asian men.

In 2008, 14.6% of all marital partnerships were interracial marriages. Of that number, 11% of the marriages were Black/White weddings. Statistics reveal that 58% of the Black women who were in interracial marriages wedded White men. That is a big percentage of Black females who participate in interracial relationships. Only 6.9% of White men who married non-White women married Black.This is an incredibly small percentage of the group of non-White women that White men choose to marry.

As the Black gals White guys combination gets more tolerable in the United States and all over the world, these stats will certainly increase. The recent increases in Black women and White men relationships can easily be linked to the movie industry and their many depictions of interracial couples in movies such as The Words, The Bodyguard and many other movies where Black females and White males are involved in an intimate relationship together.

Within non-White/non-Black unions, Black females only married Hispanic men 24% of the time. And just 4.8% of these Black ladies in this number of interracial unions married Asian men. This is a very small percentage of the total 14.6% of interracial unions executed in 2008. Black women and those belonging to the "Other" group (Native American, Biracial... ) married at a rate of 11.6% - which is over twice as many as the rate for Black females and Asian males. This certainly does not mean that Black women are not interested in Asian men or vice versa.

Various ideas can be drawn based on these statistics. One could believe that Black females are not as attracted to Asian men as they are White men. Or that perhaps Black women may not be as appealing to non-Black men - hence the small percentages of marriages within interracial unions which involve Black women. These ideas probably do not take into account several important elements. Black females are much less likely to participate in an interracial union than their White, Hispanic and Asian counterparts. As Black women find themselves more open and available to in interracial relationships, I am sure these proportions will certainly grow quite drastically.

[Julia]

Thank you all for your opinion on this issue.