Interesting Facts About Interracial Marriages in the US

Love and marriage comes in different shades. And this rings true in today’s society, especially when you consider that there are more and more interracial couples. In fact in America alone, 17% of married couples are interracial. This is a sign that people are more open and accepting of people different from them.

While interracial relationships seem common nowadays, there’s still some stigma behind them. Sadly, there are people who think being with someone of a different ethnic group is downright shameful. The women, in particular, bear the brunt of this stain. Any woman in the company of caucasian males are often thought of as gold diggers. Fortunately, these stereotypes don’t seem to stop men from ending up with these ladies (regardless of whether they are Russian, Latina, or Asian women).

If things go well, interracial relationships won’t just be a trend and more and more people would be in relationships with someone of different race (or date them at the very least). This sign of progress may be long overdue, but in order to understand what a landmark achievement the rise of interracial marriages is, it helps to uncover its troubled history.

Loving vs. Virginia case

In 1958, Richard Loving (a caucasian male) and Mildred Jeter (of African descent) married in Washington D.C. instead of their home state in Virginia. The reason they wed in another state was because interracial marriage was illegal back then.

When they returned home, not only were they arrested and jailed for a short period of time, they were required to transfer to another state. Depressed because of the outcome, Mildred wrote a letter to Robert F. Kennedy (who was Attorney General back then) for help regarding the outcome of their case. Their case was then forwarded to the American Civil Liberties Union, who then took their case to the Supreme Court.

Fortunately for the Lovings, the Supreme Court ruled in their favor and deemed Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional. This ruling was just the start of other rulings in states with similar laws.

Theirs was one of the landmark Civil Rights cases that changed the course of marriages in the US. To commemorate this day, June 12 (which is the day they won their case) is always celebrated as “Loving Day.”

Since then, people’s opinion on interracial couples has shifted for the better. There are even more and more people open to the idea of dating someone with different ethnicity as them. To substantiate the progress made since then, here are a couple of interesting facts regarding interracial relationships in the US:

Rising Number of Interracial Marriages and Relationships

• Since 1967, the number of interracial marriages has increased by five times.
• Today, there’s 1 out of ten couples that marry someone of a different race. That’s approximately 11 million people.
• Caucasians are 42% likely to marry Hispanics. Asians come in second with 12%.
• 14% of babies in the US are multi-ethnic.
• Female Asian singles are more likely to marry men with a different ethnicity compared to their male counterparts.
• Out of all the states in the US, Hawaii has the highest number of interracial married couples. Las Vegas is the state with the second highest number.
• There’s also an increase of couples with multiracial backgrounds.
• There was a drastic increase of interracial marriages between 2000 to 2016 and onwards.

Perception of Interracial Relationships

While these numbers are promising, this increase proves that people’s opinion regarding interracial relationships is changing for the better. The Loving v. Virginia case and Civil Rights Movement certainly had a hand in changing people’s perception, but there are other factors that have contributed to this change in perspective, such as the rising number of Hispanics and Asians immigrating to the US. Recent surveys show that 63% of Americans are in favor of relatives being in a relationship with someone from a different race. But there are still some setbacks, especially among the older generations. There are also reports indicating that education plays a factor in one’s openness to interracial marriage. 19% of people that graduated from college were able to marry someone from a different race.

Advice for couples in interracial relationships

Unfortunately, there are still some people that aren’t open to such relationships. There’s also the fact that interracial couple also experience unique problems—problems that stem from a difference in culture. If you are in a relationship with someone from a different ethnicity, here are some sound pieces of advice:

• Seek out the advice of other couples in an interracial relationship.
  Learning from their experiences could make your relationship stronger, especially when they’ve already gone through similar situations.
• Be prepared to talk about your race a lot.
  Whether you like it or not, the cultural and social differences would affect your relationship. So might as well discuss them with an open mind so that you can go through those issues together. You can also learn a lot about society and yourself from someone with a different cultural background.

The point is there’s no harm in being someone with a different ethnicity than yours. It certainly opens up a lot of learning experiences. Plus, if you are dating internationally, you have the perfect excuse to travel abroad.