Human beings interact with one another in various situations and social settings resulting to certain relationships. The growth in population of minority groups, coupled with earlier mixing of different races in work and employment places, schools, and other social places and institutions has led to increased interaction among races. This has extended to intimate levels of relations and marriages. There has been an increase in the number of interracial couples throughout time. This is a positive sign of the breaking of racial stereotypes, discrimination and barriers, which is likely to yield to high, race relations especially in United States. The realization and acknowledgment of uniqueness as well as individual differences and personality have led to most people doing away with generalizations and commonly held beliefs against other races. Also the high level of education has led to more awareness about various races being similar to others in most aspects hence races embracing one another in various relationships. (Aldridge 355).
Interracial relations were historically disallowed in United Stated which makes it an issue worth studying. Black and White interracial marriages were illegal in most states and the consequences were imprisonment. Although the laws now allows it, interracial relations have not been fully embraced by most people and this has led to controversy and discrimination, and at times harassment from family members and friends, as well as members of the society. One of the areas that still have been well embraced is attitudes towards interracial relationships and dating (Harris 52).
Attitudes towards interracial friends, dates and marriages vary since this is a multidimensional aspect. For example, Blacks have been shown to be more accepting of interracial relations than Whites. Here the Blacks are more likely to form friendship ties with people of other races than other groups resulting to them being more popular and influencing at times. This can be attributed to their willingness to be recognized since they are a minority group with the aim of being out there to make an impact. Blacks have an open attitude towards dating someone outside their race. This can be associated with black mothers in their family settings acting as guide towards embracing interracial relationships. The display of acceptance attitudes towards interracial relations by mothers plays a vital role in their children’s attitudes of the same (Zebroski 125).
The Supreme Court in United States made it legal to have interracial relations in 1967. This has led to increased social acceptance of interracial relations. This has led to increase to such marriages over time. For example, the Black-White marriages rose from 65, 000 to 422, 000 between 1970 and 2005. When considering interracial relations often, more focus is on Blacks and Whites. This has led to disregard of other racial groups, which is attributed to lack of research in those groups. When all races are combined and their marriages focused on, less the 10% of all the marriages can be considered interracial in United States. Other races that need to be considered include Latinos, Mexicans, and Caucasians. This is an important fact, since all the races have some form of interracial relations which need to be researched on to identify the problems that such relations exhibit as well as the important lessons that can be borrowed from them and applied in other interracial relations (Qian 583).
The question of whether there are benefits or disadvantages of interracial relations is an in trudging one. This is because the advantages and disadvantages in most cases can depend on individuals, hence a subjective case. Another factor that can influence such differences is the difference in cultural upbringing of the individuals involved. The levels of sharing, perspective on life, gender roles orientation and the values and norms that each one belief in. also, the religious and faith that each hold can determine where such relations will be challenging or beneficial (Hill 195).
Other factors such as communication levels and skills can determine whether friends, peers and couples find benefit of challenges when interacting. Different races have different ways of solving disagreements and disputes when they arise. Individual differences can influence more whether interracial relations are beneficial or not. Some individuals show unwillingness to adhere to agreed norms, are secretive and do not openly share their thoughts, do not show commitment in duties, and are irresponsible. It can be challenging handling such people in engaging in various activities, irrespective of their skin color or race. However, there are some pros of interracial relationships which can only be generalized and not applied to any specific race A versus race B interracial relations (Aldridge 365).
It can help individuals in personal growth, where individuals in those relationships appreciate and become aware of their partners challenges due to their race and culture. This also helps to cancel out stereotypes and prejudices held between races. When people of different races form relations, whether personal, marital or business, they interact with each other and get to experience the real sense of the ideologies they hold against each other. Since there is a common bond of interest, they will seek to both put down their differences and embrace each other r cope together. For example, most African Americans who have not interacted with Whites belief that they are cold, unaffectionate and serious, this is not the case to those who have interracial relations with them (Zebroski 127).
Those who have such interracial relation can act as agents of change to their racial peers, since they can give them real world experiences those themselves have witnessed. Interracial relations especially marriages is a better way to end social segregation. This is because the coming together of two diverse families gives the different race members a chance to get acquainted with each other well and intimately. This also expands their social circles to incorporate people of different races, which greatly reduced the issues of “where you are from” and background racial segregation (Aldridge 3561).
One of the main challenges of interracial relations is that loss of heritage. This includes things such as extended family values which at times can lead to negative feelings from family members. This is because some races expect that one will marry a person of their own. Going contrary to this can cause disillusionment and anger upon the family members. Also, if members in a relationship are not willing to respect and learn each other’s heritage, it can cause huge disappointments which can escalate to more racial abuse and segregation. Care should be taken to understand and respect traditions and jokes and teasing remarks should be good in nature. People have been brought up with some values and customs that define them and which they are proud of. Crossing or disrespecting such values can cause conflict between involved persons. (Harris 61).
Also, the society can be a big challenge for interracial marriages where the couple can be judged wrongly due to ignorance of the public. Sometimes the couple may get weary and feel pained by remarks made in the society but strength is what is required between them. They need to be supportive of each other and exhibit great levels of maturity. Most pressure from interracial relations come from outside since disapproval by family members cuts the necessary social support networks in times of need. Also strangers can be discriminative and show rejecting tendencies towards such couples. Another challenge can be with children identity. Such parents will require extra skills and intelligent to teach and help their children indentify and embrace the duality of their parents. This is especially where children are socialized to identify with a given race or in documents where race is a requirement, such as in National census (Hill 197).
Interracial relations have been widely accepted in United States more than any other cultural shifts such as same-sex marriages. This can be attributed to disregard of taboos which saw 15% marriages between individuals of different ethnicities in 2010. This was just for married people where those who cohabitate were not included, and also 4.5 million married American couples in United States are interracial. Also, 86% of Americans approve of black and whites marriages with the age group 18-37 giving interracial marriages a 97% approval rate. This can be attributed to the balance of control between parents and their children. Here, children have been given more freedom and power over who they choose to marry. With increased realization of the individual differences, more and more people are marrying outside races provided their spouses match what they want in life (Aldridge 368).
Work Cited
Aldridge, D.P. (1978). Interracial marriages: Empirical and theoretical considerations.
Harris, T. & Kalbfleisch, P. (2000). Interracial dating: The implication of race for
Initiating a romantic relationship. The Howard Journal of Communication, 11, 49-64.
Hill, M.R., & Thomas, V. (2000). Strategies for racial identity development: Narratives
Of Black and White women in interracial partner relationships. Family Relations, 49(2),193-200.
Qian, Z. (1999). Who intermarries? Education, nativity, region, and, interracial marriage, 1980 and 1990. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 30 (4), 579-583.
Zebroski, S.A. (1999). Black-White Intermarriages: The racial and gender dynamics of support and opposition. Journal of Black Studies, 30(1),123-132
