E Pluribus Unum

According to this Associated Press story by Hope Yen, the rate of "interracial" marriage is rising in the USA, but not as fast as it has risen in the past.

As I've written before, I put interracial in quotes because I believe we are all of one race - human.

The growth of interracial marriages is slowing among U.S.-born Hispanics and Asians. Still, blacks are substantially more likely than before to marry whites.

Here's an example of why the racial categories can be a little ridiculous: how are they counting brides or grooms who are themselves the products of "interracial" coupling?

The number of interracial marriages in the U.S. has risen 20 percent since 2000 to about 4.5 million, according to the latest census figures. While still growing, that number is a marked drop-off from the 65 percent increase between 1990 and 2000.

Well of course there has to be a slowdown at some point in something like this. You can say that the obesity rates have stopped rising as fast once everyone is obese already, for example.

About 8 percent of U.S. marriages are mixed-race, up from 7 percent in 2000.

The sustained rates are much higher than brideless or groomless "marriages".

The latest trend belies notions of the U.S. as a post-racial, assimilated society. Demographers cite a steady flow of recent immigration that has given Hispanics and Asians more ethnically similar partners to choose from while creating some social distance from whites due to cultural and language differences.

White wariness toward a rapidly growing U.S. minority population also may be contributing to racial divisions, experts said.

Give me a break. Yes, people coming in from the "old country" (Persians, Armenians, Koreans, you name it) are often pressured by their families to marry within their ethnic community. But what do the stats say when at least one of the spouses is US-born? I know the acceptance of such a reality would put a lot of activists out of work, but I'm fairly certain that the vast majority of US "whites" who are of childbearing age don't give a rip about someone's skin color or their country of origin, as long as they are Americans or want to stay here.

"Racial boundaries are not going to disappear anytime soon," said Daniel Lichter, a professor of sociology and public policy at Cornell University.

No, blond-haired, blue eyed people aren't going to disappear, and neither will people with red hair, or people very dark skin (I happen to find very dark skin usually looks beautiful). However, I do think it is a good thing the more integrated we become, because the more integrated we become, the less silly antagonism and pointless division there will be. People who think one "race" is generally genetically superior to another are wrong, and we likely will actually benefit genetically from blending ethnic lines, for the same reason inbreeding increases risks. If nothing else, I enjoy the beauty of so many of the children of these "mixed" marriages

He noted the increase in anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S. after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks as well as current tensions in Arizona over its new immigration law.

"With a white backlash toward immigrant groups, some immigrants are more likely to turn inward to each other for support," Lichter said.

Only the ones heeding the fear mongering of activists who make no distinction between legal immigration and illegal entry/residency, and lie about the motivation for concerns about illegal immigration. But does anyone really think that an individual immigrant who is attracted to US-born citizens will avoid going out with that person because of a law in Arizona authorizing local law enforcement to refer a lawfully stopped suspect with no valid papers to ICE?

Broken down by race, about 40 percent of U.S.-born Asians now marry whites - a figure unchanged since 1980. Their likelihood of marrying foreign-born Asians, meanwhile, multiplied 3 times for men and 5 times for women, to roughly 20 percent.

Among U.S.-born Hispanics, marriages with whites increased modestly from roughly 30 percent to 38 percent over the past three decades. But when it came to marriages with foreign-born Hispanics, the share doubled — to 12.5 percent for men, and 17.1 percent for women.

In contrast, blacks are now three times as likely to marry whites than in 1980. About 14.4 percent of black men and 6.5 percent of black women are currently in such mixed marriages, due to higher educational attainment, a more racially integrated military and a rising black middle class that provides more interaction with other races.

These are assumptions.

The numbers reflect in part an internal struggle that Asians and Hispanics say they feel navigating two cultural worlds - the U.S. and their parents' homeland.

If your parents chose to bring you here and raise you here, then they have voted for American culture – despite what they say. I know that a lot of people want their grandchildren to "look like them" and of course there is the hope that with shared national origin there will be shared values and customs, but if your Korean parents were so set on you marrying another Korean, then the chances would have been better if they stayed in Korea. If you're an American, the other person you're marrying, if they were born here or naturalized, is an American - like you - regardless of skin color. And American culture drew your parents from wherever they came from.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't continue to keep the positive traditions from the old country, even if you marry someone whose ancestry isn't from there.

It matters much more that you share a worldview and priorities, have compatible goals, values, and personalities, are committed to each other, and are attracted to each other in body, spirit, and soul. That will more likely mean a lasting and happy marriage. That someone's parents came from the same corner of the old country that your parents came from does not guarantee a good or lasting marriage.

The minister who performed my wedding is a white woman married to a black man. One of my groomsmen and dearest friends is a black man married to a white woman (they have the most adorable little boy you’ve ever seen). Another one of my groomsmen is a white man who married a Latina and they made a beautiful girl. I don't see what the big deal is. Articles like this treat all Latinos the same, but marriage between Latinos from different countries can be as different as the marriages the article cites… or the marriage of an Irish person to a Russian, a Swede to an Italian, a US-born African American to someone born and raised in Africa or Haiti.

"Mixed" marriages have a long history around the world, including among the powerful and famous. It is nothing new.

Previously:

The Race Card and Prop 8
 
Interracial Marriage and Same-Sex Marriage: Why the Analogy Fails