Interracial Marriage, Multiracial Identities & The Future of America's Color Line - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Owing to such a background between the whites and the blacks, intermarriage between the two can only be an indicator of assimilation between the two. The Hart-Cellar Act of 1965 did the magic after it eliminated national origin quotas and opened the nation’s door to non-white immigrants. According to Jennifer and Frank, “other social trends are also augmenting the racial/ethnic diversity of the United States, most notably the rise in intermarriage and the growth of the multiracial population (Jennifer, Frank 562). Marriage brings about the mixing of races and in 2000 US census, the government allowed Americans to identify their racial category meaning that race is no longer a bounded category. According to Davis as quoted in Social forces journal, “to sociologists, intermarriage of whites and non-whites is a clear indication of decreasing social distance between groups, declining racial prejudice, and changing racial boundaries” (Jennifer, Zhou 52). Statistics depict that interracial marriage is on the rise. This growth in multiracial population is attributed to the rise in intermarriage between whites and non-whites and the people’s willingness to report their multiracial backgrounds. Just the other day, interracial marriage was illegal in a good number of American states but today this is not the case since 13% of American marriages involve partners of different races. While the rate was close to zero in 1880, the rate of intermarriages has growth tenfold from 1960 with 150,000 persons intermarrying to 1.6 million in 1990 (Jennifer, Zhou 54). To date, one in every 40 Americans identify themselves as multiracial. While this may not seem significant today, a 2050 projection suggests a 1 to 5 ratio, which is quite high. The preference of Americans and immigrants living in it imply a tendency to marry people outside their races. Different groups are more likely to intermarry because of differing perception either of themselves or from the people close to them. For instance, an American parent will be comfortable marrying their daughter to a Japanese, Korean, or Chinese but not with the Southeast Asians who they consider poor or of less status. A Multiracial person shares in more than one race or ethnic group. His background has more than one race. For example, a woman whose father is an Asian and her mother an American and whose grandparents came from different races. In a mono racial case, all the parents belong to the same race. According to US research in 2000 census, most of the multiracial cases reported only two cases with 93%, 6% with 3 cases, and 1% with 4 or more cases. With the younger generation reporting a higher figure of multicultural cases, one can deduce that this is on the rise. However, this distribution is not even across all groups. The Native Hawaii reported the highest cases of multicultural interaction while the “Whites” and the “Blacks” reported the lowest levels. The lowest figure in multiculturalism in Black American has its roots in the ancient slavery, discrimination and the “one drop rule” (Jennifer, Zhou 56). In addition, multicultural identity can be explained geographically in that some states are more tolerant for ethnic and racial diversity than other countries. According to Davis as ...Download file to see next pagesRead More