Number Of Interracial Marriages example essay topic

The law forbidding interracial marriage was terminated in 1967, and in the midst of rapid racial change, one fact is unmistakable: A growing number of Americans are showing that we all can get along by forming relationships and families that cross all color lines. In the past couple decades, the number of interracial marriages has increased dramatically. Interracial dating and marrying is described as the dating or marrying of two people of different races, and it is becoming much more common to do so. Thirty years ago, only one in every 100 children born in the United States was of mixed race.

Today, the number is one in 19. In some states, such as California and Washington, the number is closer to one in 10 (Melting Pot). Since 1960 the number of mixed race marriages has doubled every decade (Love's Revolution). Interracial couples only represented a surprising 2% of all couples in 1990, with interracial marriages representing only 4% (YGGDRASIL).

In 1998, there were 1,348,000 interracial married couples. Today, 15% of all babies born in the Golden State are of mixed race. Between 1968 and 1989, children born to parents of different races increased from 1% of total births to 3.4%. There has also been an increase in births to Japanese and White parents. There are now 39% more births to Japanese-White parents than births to Japanese-Japanese parents (in the U.S. ). Between 1968 and 1989, Chinese-White births more than tripled (from 1,000 to over 3,800).

From 1970 to 1991, the number of mixed-race married couples increased from 310,000 to 994,000. This trend is taking place among all racial and ethnic groups, but with different patterns for each group (Statistics). Between 1970 and 1998 the number of interracial couples increased from 300,000 to 1.4 million. Almost a quarter of marriages in California, for instance, are interracial. The number of Hispanics married to non-Hispanics rose from 600,000 to 1.7 million. Though this only represents five percent of all U.S. marriages, it stands for a huge growth and is expected to continue to rise in upcoming years.

The success of an interracial marriage, to withstand all the prejudices in society, needs one major ingredient, and that is love. One of the hardest things an interracial couple has to deal with is acceptance from both their families and society. Interestingly, though, Interracial marriages tend to last longer than same race ones because people going into interracial marriages are prepared for a rocky road and are prepared to stick with it, while same race couples may have not experienced that same adversity, and at the first sign of struggle, back out of the marriage. This obviously tells us that whether the marriage is a success or not does not depend upon the races of the partners, or at least not in the way everyone thinks it does. It is obvious that people in general are becoming more open minded and accepting of interracial marriages, however, there still are many social taboos that prevent people from being in such a marriage. Society tends to concentrate on skin color when looking at a couple, which makes it very hard to overcome the struggles of being in an interracial relationship.

However, there are ways to prove society wrong. As more and more people marry interracial ly, people become more open minded and less color conscious, and as society becomes more and more tolerant, maybe, and hopefully, in the future color or race won't matter any more. Interracial marriages are extremely important to study since the rate of such relationships continues to increase. When adolescents and young adults develop these types of relationships, it is necessary for them to have support and understanding from family and friends. Although racism has declined as a result of interracial relationships, it is still difficult to find full acceptance on this issue.

Looking at the statistics and various studies on interracial marriage and dating, a person can begin to understand and view these unions as acceptable.

Bibliography

A True Melting Pot". Teen Voice. 18 Nov. 2001.
web "Interracial Marriage". Love's Revolution. 21 Oct. 2001.
web reg right. html Population Resource Center. 21 Oct. 2001.
web Salon News All Mixed Up. 18 Nov. 2001.
web race / index /html? CP = SAL&DN = 110 Statistics on Interracial Issues. 18 Nov 2001.
web Yggdrasil. 21 Oct. 2001.