Is Interracial Marriage Still Scandalous?
This month marks almost 50 years since the Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia, which made interracial marriage legal nationwide. Marriages between people of different races have climbed since, to a high of 8.4 percent in 2010. Does this mean that we have achieved a colorblind society, or just that the hate has moved to YouTube? In an age when white people are becoming a minority, is interracial marriage still scandalous?
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1. The Myth of Rarity
These entirely normal couplings forever face a presumption of illegitimacy or sexualization. Couples get used to hearing, "How did you meet?"
2. We Can¡¯t Just Wait for Bias to Disappear
The hardest opposition may fade as generations pass on, but income and wealth inequality will silently maintain the racial boundaries.
3. It¡¯s O.K. to Be Intrigued
Colorblind love doesn't mean you don¡¯t talk about race. It means you talk about it more.
4. Parents Pass the Bias Along to Their Kids
Behind closed doors, too many moms and dads will still say: you can¡¯t marry "one of them."
5. A Complex Map, but Still Divided
We aren't colorblind. Many relationships are still constrained by class and race divisions.
Sample Essay
A Complex Map, but Still Divided
Historically, both states and the federal government restricted interracial marriages. For centuries, many states proscribed whites from marrying African-Americans and other nonwhites. Federal immigration laws and military policies also prevented interracial marriages. After World War II, military officials forbade American soldiers to marry foreign women (white soldiers and Japanese women, or black soldiers and white European women). Fortunately, in 1967 the Supreme Court¡¯s decision in Loving v. Virginia struck down antimiscegenation laws, and Congress ultimately lifted racially exclusionary immigration laws that enabled ¡°war brides¡± to marry American soldiers and immigrate to the U.S.
Against this historical backdrop, it is encouraging to see that more couples are getting married across racial lines. Indeed, if we look at relationships (not just marriages), we see even more interracial couples. A 2012 U.C.L.A. Williams Institute study shows that unmarried same-sex couples and straight couples have higher interracial rates than married couples. Additionally, if we expand our analysis to interracial families – including same-race couples who adopt a different-race child – the number goes higher. Marriage should therefore not be the sole basis of a ¡°post-racial¡± analysis.
Crucially, upon closer examination, the interracial marriage rates demonstrate that America is still far from a colorblind society. As Pew explained in a 2012 study, on closer inspection there are differences along gender, geography, education and class lines. In 2010, 26 percent of black men and 36 percent of Asian women (compared with 9 percent of black women and 17 percent of Asian men) marry outside of their races. Twenty-two percent of interracial marriages took place in the West, compared with 14 percent in the South.
Additionally, 42 percent of white men/Asian women married couples both went to college, compared with 20 percent of white/Hispanic married couples and 17 percent of white/black married couples. A look at earnings also reveals racial and gender differences: the median combined income of white/Asian couples is $70,952, compared with $53,187 for white/black married couples.
These differences underscore that we should not be too quick to rely on the increase in interracial marriages as proof that we now live in a ¡°post-racial¡± society. Instead, the rise in interracial marriages should encourage us to continue to explore the various factors that, shaped by our racial past, continue to limit interracial couples -- who want to or are able to marry -- from saying, "I do."