Different race marriage

According to a new study by the Pew Research Center, almost 15 percent of all new American marriages in 2008 were between people of two different races. 

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There are now 4.8 million interracial marriages in the United States—about 1 in 12 marriages. 

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That number has doubled in the past 30 years, and has risen especially sharply among black populations. 

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Our acceptance threshold is rising too—about 83 percent of Americans say it is "all right for blacks and whites to date each other," compared with 48 percent in 1987. 

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And 63 percent of those surveyed say it "would be fine" if a family member were to get hitched to someone of a different race. 

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Young people actively approve of the trend; almost two-thirds of of Millennials said mixed-race families were "good for society."

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But that doesn't mean that all races—or genders—are intermarrying at the same rate. 

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Twenty-two percent of all black male newly-weds in 2008 married outside their race, compared with just nine percent of black females. 

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Meanwhile, a full 40 percent of Asian female newly-weds married a person of another race in 2008, compared with just 20 percent of Asian males. 

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The gender differences were negligible with white and Hispanics

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So, yes, we've come a long way from the court case Loving v Virginia, but that doesn't mean racial stereotypes and biases have ceased to exist.

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Even among those who choose to marry outside their race. 

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There are still well-documented prejudices about the oft fetishized docility of Asian women.

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The marriageability, or lack thereof, of black women.

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And the virility, or lack thereof of both black and Asian men. 

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No matter how much we tout the melting pot concept, our "personal preferences" are often tinged with ingrained stereotypes. 

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And social pressures still do affect interracial marriages.

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The study found they were more likely to end in divorce. 

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Intermarriage may no longer be illegal or even taboo.

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But it's still wrapped up in our deeply rooted cultural biases.

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Biases that will take generations to dispel.
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When we cast our eyes further afield we find similar trends in most Western European countries.
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Into Eastern Europe and Russia things are changing slower, but then there are less other races living there.
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Racism is alive to a greater degree where people have less experience of each other.
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Where politically it is useful to denigrate those of other races.
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Where ignorance is greater.


There we find racism alive and well.