Interracial marriages more widely accepted
Interracial marriages were not ruled to be legal in this country until 1967. Now, marital unions of different races seem to be on the rise.
There were more than 440,000 marriages between African Americans and Caucasians in 2001 compared with 51,000 such unions in 1960, according to “Interracial Relationship” found at www.multirace.org.
There are three main reasons why people marry outside their race, said Scot Allgood, a marriage and family therapist from the Family Life Center.
“Some do it for the shock factor, some do it to show they aren’t prejudiced and some people really just don’t see color,” he said.
Interracial marriages are generally discouraged because of the idea called homogeneity, which is the idea that people with satisfying marriages are much more similar than different, Allgood said.
“The old saying ‘opposites attract’ really isn’t correct,” he said. “In a good marriage, the people tend to be similar in age, education and family background. One reason why marriages to [different races] are generally discouraged is because they are more different than the same.”
Allgood said feelings toward other races are learned, and elementary-age students generally don’t consider race a factor in choosing who their friends are, according to a study done in Hyrum three years ago. The study showed it seemed like attitudes depend on the ideas of the parents. If parents have open minds, it seems to make a difference.
“A lot of the feelings toward other races are determined by how someone is raised, the attitudes of their parents and their exposure to minorities,” he said. “In the study, elementary kids didn’t see skin color at all, but it was a major issue with their parents.”
Allgood said interracial marriages are more accepted in larger cities than small towns because in larger cities, people get exposed to more open-minded ideas.
Sixteen southern states were actively enforcing a ban on interracial marriages until 1967, according to the Web site. The case which ended the ban was that of Richard and Mildred Loving who were prosecuted in Virginia in 1959 for miscegenation (interracial marriage).
The original judge in the case said, “Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix,” according to the Web site.
The decision was upheld in the Virginia Supreme Court in 1965 but reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967.
The keys to a successful interracial marriages are the same as those in any marriage, Allgood said.
“Make sure you’re marrying for the right reasons,” he said. “Marrying to show your parents you’re open-minded is not a good reason.”
People need to focus on the things that work for them.
“Too often, people focus on their differences,” he said.
-kcartwright@cc.usu.edu