Pros And Cons Of Interracial Marriage

LITERATURE DISCUSSION

First article

In Yanyi K, Djamba and Sitawa R. Kimuna’s scholarly journal, "Are Americans really in Favor of Interracial Marriage? A Closer Look at when they are asked about black-White Marriage for their Relatives”, the authors were using the General Social Survey (GSS) to figure out how Americans, specifically White and black Americans, feel about having a close relative marry outside of their race. Since there are not a lot of surveys relating to interracial marriage, the survey, “How would it make you feel if a close relative of yours were planning to marry a [(Negro/Black)/White]? Would you be very uneasy, somewhat uneasy, or not uneasy at all,” was the closest question to figuring out American’s attitude towards

Jean suggests that this may be due to a colorblind society. Results also demonstrated that blacks had more mixed feelings on the matter of interracial marriage, while whites showed to be more opposed to interracial marriage. St. Jean continues her paper by describing some of the reactions of those who were white, and many of them feared that their children would be bullied and have a hard time because of a mixed heritage (St. Jean 1998:405). St. Jean also describes the reactions of those who identified as black, and she states that their reaction was more complex than the reactions from whites. Although blacks were more supportive of interracial marriage between blacks and whites, there was an individual who identified as mulatto, a person of mixed white and black ancestry, who recalled being teased by blacks which influenced her to pursue men who were white. Other black individuals in interracial relationships stated that black men acted offended when they see a black woman with a white male, and that when a black woman sees a black male and white female couple, they act resentful (St. Jean 1998:408). No matter what the situation is for the couple, there is still some form of opposition towards the couple’s relationship. Only a few individuals who came from a mixed neighborhood stated that they had positive experiences since this mixture created a positive view of races and interracial marriages. Some respondents also stated that they felt uncomfortable with the term “intermarriage” since they did not take race into consideration when they got married; to them it was just “marriage” (St. Jean 1998:410). St. Jean states that the “preliminary findings from focus group interviews indicate that although for the couples the salience of color seems to diminish after marriage, race consciousness does not diminish, In their everyday interactions, they are