Interracial Relationships

The New York Times reports that, “A surge of interracial dating and marriage in a multi-racial 21st century America, is now more visible and has clearly become more diverse than ever.” 

This cultural phenomenon comprises the full potential, of becoming less stratified and defined by any previous definition of the word American. In previous decades including most of the 20th century, America has gone through a myriad of societal challenges and changes, when it comes to the acceptance and tolerance levels of interracial dating and marriage.

No longer are the terms black and white used as the two dominant groups referred to in public forums. America herself has become an amazing representation of all the world’s people. Just take a look around your neighborhoods.  From my John Lennon like rose colored glasses, I see it each and everyday.

America’s dark past must never be forgotten, even as we continue to advance forward into the future. We must always honor those that give or gave their lives for the freedoms, that we all take for granted everyday. I say this to historically recall, an event I personally consider, based on many years of research, to be the genesis or quintessential moment of the Civil Rights Movement in America.

At least 360 degrees of change was required, to get from the hellish nightmare that occurred in 1955 when young Emmett Till, a very handsome hazel eyed, young black man was wrongly accused of looking at, or flirting with, a Caucasian woman, inside a general store deep in the Mississippi Delta.  Back then there was to be no mixing of the races, it was the law a mere 57 years ago. If only Emmett Till could have grown up beyond the tender age of fourteen and become a man he could have witnessed the progress beyond those horrific Jim Crow decades. He could see it right up close, while watching TV in his living room. He could see what I see in everyday America, real life examples of beautiful interracial couples and their children all loving, living and playing together.

The times they did indeed change for all of us alive today. thanks to many years of confrontation and struggle, blood sweat and tears, and of course death by too many souls to count. Yet today in the year 2012, I can better imagine all the people living together in harmony and peace. We still have a considerable road to travel when it comes to race relations in America, but God knows it’s better than it was once upon a time.

Like traveling in a time capsule we can fast forward to 2012, where couples like George Lucas and Mellody Hobson or Robin Thicke and Paula Patton both married, openly and proudly celebrate their unions. I could peek into my own address book, and find many interracial friends or colleagues with whom I frequently socialize. But far from the digital camera view of Hollywood celebrities, many other Americans have found love or interest, in the arms of someone racially or ethnically different from themselves. At some point in our nation’s history the American people have socially and consciously evolved into more tolerant and progressive human beings, at least on the interracial issue anyway.

The whole notion of interracial relationships has come a long way. We can credit global emigration and immigration to the U.S. The fusion of the so-called races, is relevant because it’s been in the closet for so long. The funny thing is, its always been a part of America’s fabric, just on the down-low in mixed company.

On any given day, American boys and girls, women and men have a lot more choices of who to socialize with, date and ultimately marry. What a great time to be alive in America to witness this positive change. So together let’s take a comprehensive look with clear lenses, to see just how far American attitudes and the culture has truly evolved.

Is interracial dating and marriage still a taboo subject at kitchen tables across America? 

In order to fully guage and understand such a remarkable occurrence taking place across the country, I went back to America’s past history, as it related to interracial relationships. You see many years ago, laws were put in place to discourage “race mixing” although primarily among blacks and whites in the South as a remnant of the Jim Crow era. As of 1967, that all changed with the case Loving v. Virginia and the remaining anti-miscegenation laws were held to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States.

As part of research for this article, I chose to conduct a public opinion poll. A poll is an excellent way of measuring public opinion also a very American tradition. The survey asked broad questions with regards to interracial dating and marriage. Each respondent was asked 10 multiple choice questions and allowed to provide their personal opinion or feedback on any given question.

After analyzing the survey responses and comments, I’m delighted to report that in general, American’s have progressive and positive opinions on the issue. I was pleasantly surprised as to how socially involved the respondents are with members of other ethnically different groups.

The goal of this survey was to examine the opinions of interracial dating and marriage in a multi-racial 21st century America. Ten questions were unbiasedly presented to people from all backgrounds and ethnicities that choose to participate. After analyzing the results, I was able to conclude that no longer is interracial dating and marriage a taboo subject or activity in America. One of the many controversial social issues that plagued the nation in previous decades has finally matured.

Long before interracial dating or marriage ever became against the law of the land, people of many racial backgrounds fused and coexisted. Just shake your family tree you may learn something unexpected. Time and time again throughout history, we find our lives have intertwined with one another. A good example is current President Barack Obama and his multi-racial family, consisting of his Kenyan father and Caucasian mother respectively.

From the very early days of documented American history, Native American’s lovingly refereed to as the original indigenous people, came in contact with many “races” from all across the world. This includes various types of Europeans, Africans and Asians. Upon the arrival and forced integration so to speak, of Christopher Columbus, it was inevitable that different races would procreate with one another.

So from preschool through to high school a “Born in The USA” kid such as myself, will and has interacted, with children from different backgrounds and from far away countries.

It’s right there on the school playground or multi-racial neighborhood, that the concept of integration has a whole new meaning than in the past century. These days it’s not a forced action by our government, but often sought out. And that is good for the American culture as we move into the future.