Interracial Marriages As Phenomenon In Modern Society - Essay Example

Interracial Marriages As Phenomenon In Modern Society US has seen a rapid increase in the number of interracial marriages since 1967, when the Supreme Court had eliminated the ban upon them, though they are still not very common. The US Census Bureau states that in the year 1970, there were 65000 black-white marriages in US. In 2005, this number has increased to 422000. Interracial marriages make less than 10 per cent of the total presently. Being an African-American that was first married to a man from the same race and now, is married to a Caucasian, (Landry) has sufficient experience to make a balanced approach to evaluation of the merits and demerits of interracial marriage. Landry has spent five years with the African American husband who was her college fellow. After divorce, she married the Caucasian husband and has been living with him for four years. When she reflects back upon the two experiences, she realizes that race was never a strong issue. Landry parted ways with her ex-husband because there was communication gap between them and he was disloyal to her. Besides, they had issues related to money. Therefore, when Landry searched for a husband the second time, she placed more emphasis upon his commitment towards budget and his tendency to exchange views frequently and maintain loyalty to her in marriage than the race he belonged to. Landry spent twelve years as a single after her divorce. In those years, she spent tome with numerous men from different ethnic origins. Having dated men of different professions and racial backgrounds, Landry reached the conclusion that two people’s resemblance in the level of intelligence, personal interests, aspirations and values were much stronger determinants of their compatibility with each other than race could ever be. Landry has evaluated the potential advantages and disadvantages of interracial marriages in this article. Discussing the pros of interracial marriages, Landry first discusses personal growth. Successful marriage requires the partners to grow together with the passage of time. Marital partners can enhance their growth by sharing with each other and appreciating the challenges arising from their cultural and racial differences. Landry has noticed that her Caucasian husband’s behavior is changed for the better after marrying her. He has started to understand how people of color may feel like strangers in settings where the others don’t look like them. He had a new experience of going to church with an African American wife as a lone white man. Nevertheless, he has started to enjoy the worship services greatly. Now he responds more to his African American friends who tend not to go with him when he invites them to go to places where African Americans are not very likely to be. Such awareness has inculcated in him the need to persuade people into doing things that they would otherwise not do because of their race. Landry and her family had many preconceived notions about the Caucasian people until she and her family had an opportunity to interact with Landry’s husband and his family frequently. Same can be said about Landry’s husband and his family. Before, Landry thought that Caucasian people were insensitive, stern and unaffectionate, but she found her husband’s Irish American family unusually jolly. Landry still has to resist the long cultivated urge to meet them by shaking hands with them that she has been doing all life long. Now Landry disputes with her African American friends for their baseless claims about the Caucasian people. Interracial marriage is a potential means of eliminating the social segregation. With the increased intimacy between Landry’s Caucasian and African American families developed in joint gatherings, every member of the respective families is likely to increase his/her number of friends outside his/her own race. Living together is a better way to end the differences between races than government mandated programs or diversity training. The first con of interracial marriage when it is unhealthy and the spouses are not compatible with each other is the increased outside pressure upon the marriage, which the couple has to face along with other financial, personal and children-related challenges. In such circumstances, family members and strangers tend to flare up the hatred by criticizing the act of marrying in another race and gesturing in unfavorable ways. This calls for a need to double the commitment towards each other for the interracial couple in tough circumstances. Mentally and emotionally weak people should avoid interracial marriage (Cooper cited in Fulks). The second con of interracial marriage is that the couple may have a tough time finding a neighborhood that approves of and encourages interracial marriages. During my marriage, my wife and I were refused service in restaurants several times. The discrimination wasn't hostile; we were simply ignored by waitresses until we finally got up and left. Many people don't like seeing people "mix the races" so to speak. Another time, I was driving in north Texas with a girlfriend who happened to be Black. We turned a corner and found ourselves surrounded by Klan. Luckily, traffic started moving and we drove through the threatening situation. (Forester). To solve this problem, both partners should do research to locate a place where they can have a friendly neighborhood that would encourage interracial marriages. The third con is that parents need to put in extra effort to make their children endorse the biracial heritage. Parents need to inculcate a strong sense of biracial identity in the children. Past research has shown that interracial divorces slightly exceeded the same race divorces in number, but the reasons for divorce have been same in both. Factors primarily responsible for divorce in both interracial and same race divorces include dishonesty, lack of compromise and respect, and contradicting values. There is hardly anything troublesome about racial differences. A lot of past research has depicted the benefits of interracial marriages. Researchers have depicted more positive attitudes towards life and better health signs in happily married people than people that were wither never married or were divorced. These facts obviate the need to reject a suitable marital partner just on the basis of racial difference. Works Cited: Forester, Ed. “The pros and cons of interracial marriage.” 18 Nov. 2007. Web. 24 Sep. 2011. . Fulks, Rick. “Pros and Cons of Interracial Dating.” 2011. Web. 24 Sep. 2011. . Landry, Robin. “The Pros and Cons of Interracial Marriage.” 14 Dec. 2009. Web. 24 Sep. 2011. . Read More