Nina Karas
ENWR 1510ta
Britta Rowe
Paper 2
21 March 2011
Interracial Love
“He’s pretty cute, for a black guy”. I wish I could say this comment was made by an ignorant person that I have no contact with, but that would be incorrect. Comments like this leave the mouths of my closest friends on a daily basis. How can a person be cute for a certain race? This concept makes absolutely no sense to me, yet people of all ages and generations, even today continue to find it necessary to make comments that bring up the skin tone of a person. As our society continues to grow and mature as a whole, there are certain things that people refuse to let go of, like the idea that people should date and marry only within their race. No matter if it is the family of the white girl or the African American boy, the only thing that they would both agree on is that they would rather have their son or daughter date someone the same race as them. Even in today’s advanced and liberal society, interracial couples are looked at as a social taboo.
In the United States, we take pride in the fact that we are so open and excepting of cultures. If you take a look around our country, there are white, black, Latin American, Indian and Oriental people that associate with each other on a daily basis. Yet to this day, something about two different races coming together in a romantic way is still frowned upon.
We have come a long way as a country. Since the end of slavery in 1863, people of African American descent have continued gaining equal rights to the rest of the country. Although on paper it may seem like we have done a complete turn around when it comes to intermixing with other races, in reality there continues to be a lot of discrimination. Only around forty years ago, a very jaw dropping example happened right here in Virginia. Mildred, a woman of African American race and Richard Loving, a white male, were forced to go to the District of Columbia to get married due to the fact that Virginia had a law against a white person and a non-white person getting married. When they returned to Virginia, they were arrested because of the fact that they went to another state to get married and were charged under Section 20-58 of the Virginia Code, that prohibited getting married out of state and returning to Virginia and Section 20-59 that classified “miscegenation” that could result in them spending up to five years in jail. Both Mr. and Mrs. Loving were sentenced to a year in jail and a twenty -five year suspension from the state of Virginia. The Lovings moved to District of Columbia and there is where the battle for equality began (law.cornell).
Starting in 1963, the American Civil Liberties Union tried to take the state of Virginia to trial saying that their sentence was violating the Loving’s Fourteenth Amendment. After three years of a long fight, nothing was being accomplished when the Presbyterian Church took a stand, saying that they did not condemn interracial marriages, after which the Unitarian Universalist Association declared that they believed all laws prohibiting interracial marriages should be nullified Even the Roman Catholic joined the movement as they offered support to struggling interracial couples (Alonso, Karen). This case is a landmark Supreme Court decision and helped pave the path of revoking the law against interracial marriages all around the country. After the death of Richard Loving in 1975, Mildred Loving makes a statement about her husband and the famous case. “I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about” (Beth, Linda).
Although the news that interracial marriages were illegal in Virginia in the 1960s was alarming to hear, what comes as even a larger surprise there were over ten states in the United States starting in the 1600s that prohibited marriages of whites and non-whites. The fight for equality finally ended with the state of Alabama in the year 2000. This information is not very known to our generation, but the fact that only eleven years ago there was a place in this country that did not allow two people of a different race to get married is sickening.
Throughout the history, it has been clear to see that many people disapprove of interracial marriages. One big reason that both African Americans and conservative whites oppose interracial marriage and dating is due to cultural betrayal. Many African American families view interracial dating as a betrayal of their family and abandoning of their culture. They view this dating as a sign of weakness of the African American society. Lawrence Otis Graham, an African American attorney and best selling author stated “interracial marriage undermines African American ability to introduce our children to black role models who accept their racial identity with pride.” He is also a strong believer of the fact that mixed raced children will discover that it is easier to live as a white person, and turn their backs on their black culture (Seabrook, Harry). Conservative whites also have reasons for why they do not want their sons or daughters marrying someone of a different race. Although they do believe in cultural betrayal just like African Americans, it is not the main reason for which they disapprove of these unions. They suffer from a fear that the white race will eventually become extinct. The increase in immigration and the birth of mixed children will make whites minority by the middle of the twenty-first century.
Is interracial marriage biblical? This question is a question Christians ask over and over again. Many people believe that the Scriptures discouraged against marrying someone of a different race, when in reality they discouraged the marriage of a believer and a non-believer (cf.Deuteronomy 7:3) Though there are certain parts of the Bible that people continue to maul over trying to see between the cracks the disapproval of interracial marriages, in reality there is nothing in either the Old Testament or the New Testament that discourage people from marrying into a different race. In Acts 10:34 it speaks of God’s equal view of all people and how we should follow in his example and not judge people based on their skin tone. Since we were all made from one man, Adam, we are not as different as people put us out to be.
Evidence shows that it is not a sin to marry someone outside of your race or culture. Obviously there are outcomes to marrying someone of a different race that a person must be prepared to deal with. Discrimination coming from our society is inevitable. Not all people are open-minded, making the life of an interracial couple harder. Another problem that may arise is how to raise a child, both ethically and religiously. People of two different races do not automatically have to have different religious faiths, but it is very likely. People that oppose interracial marriages bring up the fact that a “mixed” child might be discriminated against by his peers. Since most people they are either “black” or “white” where does a mixed child considered to fit? Their feeling of identity and belonging might be jeopardized.
No matter how many years continue to pass, people still continue to frown upon interracial couples. I grew up in a family where marrying outside of the Serbian Orthodox community was just unheard of. Both my father and mother were brought up going to church every Sunday along with participating in choir, church school, dance groups and athletic teams through the church. Having said that, both my father and mother are one hundred percent Serbian Orthodox, with very traditional Serbian parents. My grandparents are alarmed if one of the cousins has a black friend god forbids date one. My grandmother refused to come take pictures with my cousin for her senior prom because her date was a 6’5” black football player. In their eyes all of the girl cousins should be marrying a nice Serbian doctor or lawyer, keeping the Serbian bloodline strong. We should get married young, have kids and stay at home raising a big, Serbian family. While many have heard the line “it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man” my grandmother preaches a different philosophy, “it’s just as easy to fall in love with a Serbian man”. Yet not all of us have the same idea of love.
Throughout my entire life I have paid zero attention to the color of a person’s skin. My entire life I have always been drawn by people who most would consider “different”. I found it intriguing to learn about a new culture, a different way of upbringing than mine. The first time I liked an African American boy was in sixth grade. I was young and it was merely a crush for a day that went away as fast as it came. Yet as I continued to grow up, my attraction to that culture grew. My locker was always decorated with pictures of rappers such as Nelly, 50 Cent, and Mario. My mother would constantly ask me “Nina, do you not like white singers?” I saw nothing wrong with the people I was drawn to, but everyone else thought they had an opinion they should share with me.
I went to boarding school for high school and my friends were from all around the world. My past boyfriends have been from Mexico, Ecuador and Spain. Along with dating people of Latin culture, I was still attracted to black boys. As high school progressed, my friends would “make fun” of my taste in men. They would call me racist names, joking around about the skin color of my friends and the fact that I would have “an oreo baby” when I grow up. No matter the things that were said to me, I never even considered not liking someone just because my friends thought it was wrong.
When I came to UVA I started dating a boy that was black, and I could feel the judgment all around us, even coming from my friends. For me it has always been hard to understand why people would ever care if a couple was all white, all black or a combination of the two races, yet people did. Whenever we would go out to dinner, I could feel the staring gaze of the seventy year-old grandmother sitting three tables away from me. Every time he dropped me off at my dorm, people would walk by and stare as he was giving me a hug. All of the staring and talking behind my back does not bother me and I would never not be with a person because of it.
Along with me, there are many people in this country that are trying to rise above the stereotypes, including many celebrities. Heidi Klum and Seal are a perfect example of a polar opposite couple. There are many people who do not understand their relationship and question how a woman as beautiful as her be with Seal. Yet there is obviously something that is more than skin deep about him that made Heidi fall in love with Seal. Other famous couples include Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush, Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom, Eva Longoria and Tony Parker, Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren, Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa. How about our president Barrack Obama’s parents are a mixed raced couple, who managed to raise the man that is now in charge of our country.
Although there is a great amount of people who have accepted all races as their equal and have no problem intermixing with them, as a society we still have a long way to go. As Martin Luther King Jr. said in his “I Have a Dream” Speech “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”, I also dream of a day when people do not focus on the color of a person’s skin. As the older generations exit the picture and newer generations start taking over, the possibility of and equal world will become more possible. Yet no matter how advanced and open minded our society progresses to become, I believe that there will always be ignorant people who will judge and continue to make it difficult for interracial couples everywhere.
Works Cited
Alonso, Karen.Loving v. Virginia: Interracial Marriage. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow, 2000. Print.
Beth, Linda. "Loving, of Loving v. Virginia, Dies."The Reaction. 05 May 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://the-reaction.blogspot.com/2008/05/loving-of-loving-v-virginia-dies.html>
"Loving v. Virginia."LII | Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School. 10 Apr. 1967. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0388_0001_ZO.html>.
Maxey, Al. "Unequally Yoked: Does 2 Corinthians 6:14 Apply to Marriage?"Free Grace Centered Magazine Focuses on Amazing Grace. Free Grace, Christianity and the Bible.Grace Centered Magazine. Web. 01 May 2011. <http://www.gracecentered.com/unequally_yoked.htm>.
Seabrook, Harry. "John Piper Is a Lying Traitor."Who Is Mrs. Binoculars?Web. 01 May 2011. <http://mrsbinoculars.com/lgmirror/piper.html>.
The New English Bible; New Testament.[New York]: Oxford UP, 1961. Print.
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