Interracial Marriage Up in the US

And despite what the bigots said, it has made thing better, not worse. The latest information is from the Pew Research Center.


The Associated Press reports...

Interracial marriages in the U.S. have climbed to 4.8 million — a record 1 in 12 — as a steady flow of new Asian and Hispanic immigrants expands the pool of prospective spouses. Blacks are now substantially more likely than before to marry whites.

Can you believe that, in many states, interracial marriages used to be banned? Someday, people will be saying the same thing about same-sex, polygamous, and consanguineous marriages.

"The rise in interracial marriage indicates that race relations have improved over the past quarter century," said Daniel Lichter, a sociology professor at Cornell University. "Mixed-race children have blurred America's color line. They often interact with others on either side of the racial divide and frequently serve as brokers between friends and family members of different racial backgrounds," he said.

And they may even grow up to be President.

The study finds that 8.4 percent of all current U.S. marriages are interracial, up from 3.2 percent in 1980. While Hispanics and Asians remained the most likely, as in previous decades, to marry someone of a different race, the biggest jump in share since 2008 occurred among blacks, who historically have been the most segregated.

The number go higher in the younger generations.

In all, more than 15 percent of new marriages in 2010 were interracial.


The numbers also coincide with Pew survey data showing greater public acceptance of mixed marriage, coming nearly half a century after the Supreme Court in 1967 barred race-based restrictions on marriage.

 It is time for the court to act again.

Reuters also covered this.

Regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, an adult should be free to share love, sex, residence, and marriage with any consenting adults. We're making progress!