Interracial Marriages On The Rise

40 Years After Supreme Court Decision, Number Is Growing, Though Bias Remains

(AP)  The charisma king of the 2008 presidential field. The world's best golfer. The captain of the New York Yankees. Besides superstardom, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods and Derek Jeter have another common bond: Each is the child of an interracial marriage.

For most of U.S. history, in most communities, such unions were taboo.

It was only 40 years ago — on June 12, 1967 — that the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down a Virginia statute that barred whites from marrying nonwhites. The decision also overturned similar bans in 15 other states.

Since that landmark Loving v. Virginia ruling, the number of interracial marriages has soared; for example, black-white marriages increased from 65,000 in 1970 to 422,000 in 2005, according to Census Bureau figures. Factoring in all racial combinations, Stanford University sociologist Michael Rosenfeld calculates that more than 7 percent of America's 59 million married couples in 2005 were interracial, up from less than 2 percent in 1970.

Coupled with a steady flow of immigrants from all parts of the world, the surge of interracial marriages and multiracial children is producing a 21st-century America more diverse than ever, with the potential to become less stratified by race.

"The racial divide in the U.S. is a fundamental divide. ... but when you have the 'other' in your own family, it's hard to think of them as 'other' anymore," Rosenfeld said. "We see a blurring of the old lines, and that has to be a good thing, because the lines were artificial in the first place."

The boundaries were still distinct in 1967, a year when the Sidney Poitier film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" — a comedy built around parents' acceptance of an interracial couple — was considered groundbreaking. The Supreme Court ruled that Virginia could not criminalize the marriage that Richard Loving, a white, and his black wife, Mildred, entered into nine years earlier in Washington, D.C.

But what once seemed so radical to many Americans is now commonplace.

Many prominent blacks — including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, civil rights leader Julian Bond and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun — have married whites. Well-known whites who have married blacks include former Defense Secretary William Cohen and actor Robert DeNiro.

Last year, the Salvation Army installed Israel Gaither as the first black leader of its U.S. operations. He and his wife, Eva, who is white, wed in 1967 — the first interracial marriage between Salvation Army officers in the United States.

Opinion polls show overwhelming popular support, especially among younger people, for interracial marriage.

That's not to say acceptance has been universal. Interviews with interracial couples from around the country reveal varied challenges, and opposition has lingered in some quarters.

Bob Jones University in South Carolina didn't dropped its ban on interracial dating until 2000; a year later, 40 percent of the voters objected when Alabama became the last state to remove a no-longer-enforceable ban on interracial marriages from its constitution.

Taunts and threats, including cross burnings, still occur sporadically. In Cleveland, two white men were sentenced to prison earlier this year for harassment of an interracial couple that included spreading liquid mercury around their house.

More often, though, the difficulties are more nuanced, such as those faced by Kim and Al Stamps during 13 years as an interracial couple in Jackson, Miss.

Kim, a white woman raised on Cape Cod, met Al, who is black, in 1993 after she came to Jackson's Tougaloo College to study history. Together, they run Cool Al's — a popular hamburger restaurant — while raising a 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter in the state with the nation's lowest percentage (0.7) of multiracial residents.

The children are home-schooled, Kim said, because Jackson's schools are largely divided along racial lines and might not be comfortable for biracial children. She said their family triggered a wave of "white flight" when they moved into a mostly white neighborhood four years ago — "People were saying to my kids, 'What are you doing here?"'

"Making friends here has been really, really tough," Kim said. "I'll go five years at a time with no white friends at all."

Yet some of the worst friction has been with her black in-laws. Kim said they accused her of scheming to take over the family business, and there's been virtually no contact for more than a year.

"Everything was race," Kim said. "I was called 'the white devil."'

Her own parents in Massachusetts have been supportive, Kim said, but she credited her mother with foresight.

"She told me, 'Your life is going to be harder because of this road you've chosen — it's going to be harder for your kids,"' Kim said. "She was absolutely right."

Al Stamps said he is less sensitive to disapproval than his wife. He tries to be philosophical.

"I'm always cordial," he said. "I'll wait to see how people react to us. If I'm not wanted, I'll move on."

It's been easier, if not always smooth, for other couples.

Major Cox, a black Alabamian, and his white wife, Cincinnati-born Margaret Meier, have lived on the Cox family homestead in Smut Eye, Ala., for more than 20 years, building a large circle of black and white friends while encountering relatively few hassles.

"I don't feel it, I don't see it," said Cox, 66, when asked about racist hostility. "I live a wonderful life as a nonracial person."

Meier says she occasionally detects some expressions of disapproval of their marriage, "but flagrant, in-your-face racism is pretty rare now."

Cox — an Army veteran and former private detective who now joins his wife in raising quarter horses — longs for a day when racial lines in America break down.

"We are sitting on a powder keg of racism that's institutionalized in our attitudes, our churches and our culture that's going to destroy us if we don't undo it," he said.

In many cases, interracial families embody a mix of nationalities as well as races. Michelle Cadeau, born in Sweden, and her husband, James, born in Haiti, are raising their two sons as Americans in racially diverse West Orange, N.J., while teaching them about all three cultures.

"I think the children of families like ours will be able to make a difference in the world, and do things we weren't able to do," Michelle Cadeau said. "It's really important to put all their cultures together, to be aware of their roots, so they grow up not just as Swedish or Haitian or American, but as global citizens."

Meanwhile, though, there are frustrations — such as school forms for 5-year-old Justin that provide no option for him to be identified as multiracial.

"I'm aware there are going to be challenges," Michelle said. "There's stuff that's been working for a very long time in this country that is not going to work anymore."

The boom in interracial marriages forced the federal government to change its procedures for the 2000 census, allowing Americans for the first time to identify themselves by more than one racial category.

About 6.8 million described themselves as multiracial — 2.4 percent of the population — adding statistical fuel to the ongoing debate over what race really means.

Kerry Ann Rockquemore, a professor of African-American studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago, is the daughter of a black father and white mother and says she is asked almost daily how she identifies herself.

The surge in interracial marriage comes at "a very awkward moment" in America's long struggle with racism, she says.

"We all want deeply and sincerely to be beyond race, to live in a world where race doesn't matter, but we continue to see deep racial disparities," Rockquemore said. "For interracial families, the great challenge is when the kids are going to leave home and face a world that is still very racialized."

The stresses on interracial couples can take a toll. The National Center for Health Statistics says their chances of a breakup within 10 years are 41 percent, compared to 31 percent for a couple of the same race.

In some categories of interracial marriage, there are distinct gender-related trends. More than twice as many black men marry white women as vice versa, and about three-fourths of white-Asian marriages involve white men and Asian women.

C.N. Le, a Vietnamese-American who teaches sociology at the University of Massachusetts, says the pattern has created some friction in Asian-American communities.

"Some of the men view the women marrying whites as sellouts, and a lot of Asian women say, 'Well, we would want to date you more, but a lot of you are sexist or patriarchal,"' said Le, who attributes the friction in part to gender stereotypes of Asians that have been perpetuated by American films and TV shows.

Kelley Kenney, a professor at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, is among those who have bucked the black-white gender trend. A black woman, she has been married since 1988 to a fellow academic of Irish-Italian descent. They have jointly offered programs for the American Counseling Association about interracial couples.

Kenney recalled some tense moments in 1993 when, soon after they moved to Kutztown, a harasser shattered their car window and placed chocolate milk cartons on their lawn. "It was very powerful to see how the community rallied around us," she said.

Kenney is well aware that some blacks view interracial marriage as a potential threat to black identity, and she knows her two daughters, now 15 and 11, will face questions on how they identify themselves.

"For older folks in the black community," she said "it's a feeling of not wanting people to forget where they came from."

Yet some black intellectuals embrace the surge in interracial marriages and multiracial families; among them is Harvard law professor Randall Kennedy, who addressed the topic in his latest book, "Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption."

"Malignant racial biases can and do reside in interracial liaisons," Kennedy wrote. "But against the tragic backdrop of American history, the flowering of multiracial intimacy is a profoundly moving and encouraging development."

[gwlafayette]

all dark skinned people try to shove this interracial stuff down our throats because it is very empowering for them. non-white men prefer white women over their own because they can easily guilt them and pretend to be morally superior. They can easily make them slaves because they know that white women will be afraid to call a non-white person a racist. Its interesting how the media does not post the percentages of interracial marriages along with information regaring the sexes of those involved.

[mikealford3]

One thing bothers me about this whole bi-racial stuff. Blacks say that the whites have things easier and more opportunities and all that mess. Well if in fact whites have things easier, why does a child who is 1/2 black and 1/2 white choose to be black. Seems that a child with equal halves should have the choice of races, yet they are always considered black. If in fact whites have things better, why would the child not grow up white? I wonder what people would say if Obama decided to claim his race is white or if Tiger Woods were to claim he is Asian?

[agnim]

"AFMCA, I happen to be a religious(not fanatic)southerner. I am white and a democrat. My grandson is 8 yrs. old. He is bi-racial.(half black, half white) He is sooooo beautiful. Now I'm not saying that every bi-racial child doesn't have problems in society, but he doesn't.
Posted by dog-x8 at 02:42 AM : Apr 14, 2007"

Are you Obama's white granddad? LOL

From his story, Obama went through a similar as your grandson. And we can well imagine that his white granddad "didn't have a societal problem' for Obama as you do for your son.
However, when Obama went out into the world, he had the racial/cultural problem his granddaddy didn't have for him.

See, Dog, it's not about YOU! You have 'no problem'; but you can't just wish your state on the child. It doesn't work like that. He's young and comfortable now; and that might help his adjustment later.

And it's not about the hormone-driven parents!

It's about a YOUNG 'MIXED UP MIND' trying to fit in a demanding and racist society, OUTSIDE THE HOME!

The challenge of being an 'in betweener' drove Obama to smoking!
And we can see the problem Obama is having.

Some Blacks are not sure if Obama is black enough.
And white supremacist is calling him Black, this even though Obama fell from white loins and grew up in a white home in a white neighborhood most of his youth!

Such is the challenge of EVERY 'mixed up' child.

[agnim]

"More on Tiger Woods.... You can see how he was clearly "mixed up from the git go" and going through UNNECESSARY hell right from birth. Think how much more successful he would have been with two White parents:
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 10:31 PM : Apr 13, 2007"

"Successful in what way with 'two White parents'? LOL

Have a talent in ONE AREA OF LIFE does not buy the individual immunity in every area of life or in society.

Coming from a dual cultural background, which prevents the individual to clearly have an ACCEPTED identity in one or the other culture, IS a problem for EVERY 'mixed up' child, regardless of a one talent here or there, and regardless of the amount of wealth amassed!

Wealth or a ONE TALENT by by themselves or together cannot guarantee an individual immunity from sick/peaceless/unsettled mind!

[dog-x8]

mdk2dude, that was sooo beautiful!

[dog-x8]

AFMCA, I happen to be a religious(not fanatic)southerner. I am white and a democrat. My grandson is 8 yrs. old. He is bi-racial.(half black, half white) He is sooooo beautiful. Now I'm not saying that every bi-racial child doesn't have problems in society, but he doesn't. Well none that I have seen anyway. When we are out in town everyone makes comments about how handsome he is and very well behaved. I have had a couple of times caught someone giveing us a strange look, and I just look at them , smile , and say Isn't he beautiful? I know some day he will grow up and make some woman a great husband!!

[iceman_1960]

"Make one up if you have to. (And you would HAVE to)."

Continuing the tragic tale of Tiger Woods and his life of UNNECESSARY hell and misery, brought on by his selfish HORNEY parents...

[Warning: this will bring tears to your eyes !]

"In November 2003, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, a Swedish model. They were introduced by Swedish golf star Jesper Parnevik, who had employed her as a nanny, during The Open Championship in 2001. They married on October 5, 2004 and live at Isleworth, a community in Windermere, a suburb of Orlando, Florida. They also have homes in Jackson, Wyoming, California, and Sweden. In January 2006, Woods and his wife purchased a $39 million residential property in Jupiter Island, Florida, which they intend to make their primary residence. Woods' Jupiter Island neighbors will include fellow golfers Gary Player, Greg Norman and Nick Price, as well as singers Celine Dion and Alan Jackson.

Tiger and Elin are expecting their first child in the summer of 2007. In late January 2007, Woods admitted that he would miss The Open Championship at Carnoustie if it coincides with the birth."

- Wikipedia

[iceman_1960]

"Why don't you find a quote where Woods stated factually that he was labeled as Black and discriminated against as Black, while HE, Woods, defines himself as OTHER than Black, which is the case considering that Woods fell from a Chinese loins!" - Posted by Agnim at 10:04 PM : Apr 13, 2007

His father Earl Woods was African American, Chinese and Native American. His mother was Thai, Chinese and Dutch.

Is that mixed enough for you ?

Tiger humoroulsy identifies himself as "Cablinasian" (Caucasian, Black, American-Indian, and Asian), a term he coined himself.

I was born of two white parents, and I have sometimes been discriminated against because of my race.

Who hasn't ?

That doesn't mean I was "mixed up from the git go" psychologically or any other way.

Find me a quote where Tiger Woods says he "went through hell" and was "mixed up" as a child because his parents were of mixed race.

Make one up if you have to. (And you would to.)

[iceman_1960]

"A funeral tale is supposed to prove what, that physically and culturally 'mixed up children' do not endure problems in ANY society as a result of their 'in betweenness' and regardless of dollar possessions? LOL" - Agnim

More on Tiger Woods.... You can see how he was clearly "mixed up from the git go" and going through UNNECESSARY hell right from birth. Think how much more successful he would have been with two White parents:

"Woods was a child prodigy who began to play golf at the age of two. In 1978, he putted against comedian Bob Hope in a television appearance on The Mike Douglas Show. At age three, Woods shot a 48 over nine holes at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California, and at age five, he appeared in Golf Digest and on ABC's That's Incredible. In 1984, he won the 9%u201310 boys' event at the Junior World Golf Championships. He was only eight years old at the time, but 9%u201310 was the youngest age group available. Woods went on to win the Junior World Championships six times, including four consecutive wins from 1988 to 1991. Also in 1991, at the age of 15, he became the youngest U.S. Junior Amateur Champion in golf history."

Wikipedia

[agnim]

"On the day of his father's death, Tiger Woods said:
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 09:53 PM : Apr 13, 2007"

You are funny. LOL

A funeral tale is supposed to prove what, that physically and culturally 'mixed up children' do not endure problems in ANY society as a result of their 'in betweenness' and regardless of dollar possessions? LOL

Why don't you find a quote where Woods stated factually that he was labeled as Black and discriminated against as Black, while HE, Woods, defines himself as OTHER than Black, which is the case considering that Woods fell from a Chinese loins!

[iceman_1960]

"You who do not know how to gather evidence and draw valid conclusion would need to know Tiger to recognize that him being 'mixed up' posed a problem for him from the git go. And it is the kind of problem that all the money in the world cannot solve." - Agnim

I'll take the testimony of Tiger Woods himself, over your wacky and racially jaundiced "conclusions" any day of the week.

On the day of his father's death, Tiger Woods said:

"My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply... Every year that I've been lucky enough to win this tournament, my dad's been there to give me a big hug. And today, he wasn't there... I'm overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring."

Tiger Woods, May 2006

[mdk2dude]

To Mr. Jerry Omara may I offer you my feeling of thanks for your service for my country which I love very much. I too had an opportunity to serve and did so with the feeling I was making it all even for those that came before me and let me enjoy the life we are now living.

Jerry if you hate my country so much why are you living with a dual citizenship? Break the tie and tell the world you are now a Brit. We wont miss you. Bye.

[agnim]

"So I assume you know Tiger Woods personally, to make that ridiculous statement ?

What's his cell phone number ?
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 09:05 PM : Apr 13, 2007"

You who do not know how to gather evidence and draw valid conclusion would need to know Tiger to recognize that him being 'mixed up' posed a problem for him from the git go.
And it is the kind of problem that all the money in the world cannot solve.

Social/cultural identity crisis in human societies that DEMAND specific identities to smooth the social/cultural functioning of the individual IS a problem for ALL mixed up children, BAR NONE regardless of golf talent and wealth!

Wealth can't buy peace of mind. It can help buy some distraction; but that's about all wealth can do.

Every wise/sane person is going to prefer health (mental/physical) over wealth!

[mdk2dude]

For all those who have never just fallen in love with a person instead of a color, I say try it. I did and it worked wonders for me and my family. They were from New York and of course they were the most predigious people the world has produced. They thought I had lost my marbles instead of marrying the most wonderful woman God allowed me to find. I searched the world for years and no one met the standard of what I was looking for in a wife until she answered back hello to me. I was smitten and we did all the things young people do. We walked in the rain and didnt know it was happening. We had problems sure but even those eventually went away. We had three wonderful sons and they all married and gave us 10 wonderful grandchildren. We were only allowed 46 years before she was taken back to heaven from whence she came but we never knew we were different once we were able to get on our own and not have her or my parents remind us of our problems. They only existed in their minds. It is true she was of a different shade of white than me but we are all some shade different. It is what color you are inside that is important. I was lucky, she said yes to me.

[agnim]

"We're talking about genetics. Tay-Sachs and Sickle Cell are two prime examples.
Posted by Iceman_1960 at 09:00 PM : Apr 13, 2007"

Fair enough; but Jews ARE NOT a 'race' of people!

The region of the planet to which the Jews are indigenous has a lot of OTHER people who are similar to Jews, Semites, say.

And it would be OK for the Jews to mate with them WITHOUT THE GENETIC DISEASE, had it not for the religious rubbish that ARTIFICIALLY cause the separation of Jews from other Semitic people of THEIR kind.

Jews have the genetic problem because a relatively SMALL number of individuals decide to inbreed!

However, particular regions of the planet have a large amounts of similar individuals of the SAME 'racial' group and relatively SIMILAR cultural roots within the region, enough to avoid inbreeding.

[iceman_1960]

"Get to know Tiger Woods! Don't think you know people from a TV screen. ALL mixed up children catch UNNECESSARY hell as a result of the uncontrolled horniness of their hormone-drive parents! EVERY LAST ONE!" Posted by Agnim at 08:03 PM : Apr 13, 2007

So I assume you know Tiger Woods personally, to make that ridiculous statement ?

What's his cell phone number ?

I wish I was going through the UNNECESSARY hell Tiger Woods must be experiencing as he cruises through the Caribbean with his blonde Swedish wife on that million dollar yacht.

Man that must be hell.

[iceman_1960]

First, there are NO maladies as a result of the mating of humans indigenous to the same geography and climate." Agnim

We're talking about genetics. Tay-Sachs and Sickle Cell are two prime examples.

"In certain circles, premarital genetic testing is already a fact of life, i.e. in West-Africans from countries with a high occurrence of sickle-cell disease, and in Jewish people of Eastern-European Ashkenazi background (e.g. Tay-Sachs disease, see also Dor Yeshorim). Premarital genetic counselling is also a legal requirement for marriage between first cousins in Maine."

Wikipedia

[iceman_1960]

"First, there are NO maladies as a result of the mating of humans indigenous to the same geography and climate." Agnim

Oh no ?

What about that banjo player in "Deliverance" ?

Seriously... It isn't about climate or geography. It's about inbreeding and genetics.

"The royal and noble families of Europe have close blood ties which are strengthened by royal intermarriage; the most discussed instances of interbreeding relate to European monarchies.

...Haemophilia figured prominently in the history of European royalty. Queen Victoria passed the mutation to her son Leopold and, through several of her daughters, to various royals across the continent, including the royal families of Spain, Germany and Russia. For this reason it was once popularly called "the royal disease.... Victoria appears to have been a de novo mutation, as her mother, Victoria, was not known to have a family history of the disease. Queen Victoria's father, Edward, was not haemophiliac, and the probability of her mother having had a lover who suffered from haemophilia is minuscule as, in the Nineteenth Century, male haemophiliacs tended to die before they could sire children. Descendants of Victoria's maternal half-sister, Feodora, are not known to have suffered from the disease."

Both quotes from Wikipedia.

[agnim]

Posted by JERRYOMARA at 08:14 PM : Apr 13, 2007

A Viet vet, and still hurting, and still disillusional, eh? LOL

Your so-called 'founding fathers' were a bunch of violent enslaver and s-e-x enslaver; or have you forgotten your REAL AMERICAN HISTORY! LOL

Bad as you may think, America of today is far better than anything those violent racist s-e-x enslavers ever could imagine. And that's a fact!

So stay where you are with the hurt, ILLUSION, and self-delusion; or come back home and get cured. LOL

[agnim]

Posted by JERRYOMARA at 08:14 PM : Apr 13, 2007

A Viet vet, and still hurting, and still disillusional, eh? LOL

Your so-called 'founding fathers' were a bunch of violent enslaver and *** enslaver; or have you forgotten your REAL AMERICAN HISTORY! LOL

Bad as you may think, America of today is far better than anything those racist *** enslavers ever could imagine. And that's a fact!

So stay where you are with the hurt, ILLUSION, and self-delusion; or come back home and get cured. LOL