Moving toward a light brown world - interracial marriage

I love this trend.  I miss the ethnic diversity of the neighborhood we lived in East St. Paul.  Why does color still matter to some in this day and age?  I reject that kind of thinking.

From FOTF's Pastor's Weekly Briefing:

A dramatic increase in "marrying out" has taken place in the United States, according to analysis by the Pew Research Center and the new U.S. Census Bureau data. In 2008, a record 14.6 percent of all new marriages were between spouses of a different race or ethnicity from each other — an estimated six times the intermarriage rate among newlyweds in 1960 and more than double the rate in 1980.

This record rate includes marriages between a Hispanic and non-Hispanic (Hispanics are an ethnic group, not a race), as well as marriages between spouses of different races — be they white, black, Asian, American Indian or those who identify as being of multiple races or "some other" race. However, different groups experienced different trends: rates more than doubled among whites and nearly tripled among blacks; but, for both Hispanics and Asians, rates were nearly identical in 2008 and 1980.

But, this attitudinal and behavioral change did not come overnight. As of 1987 — two decades after the Supreme Court ruled anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional — just 48 percent of the public said it was "OK for whites and blacks to date each other." By 2009, that share had grown to 83 percent. Acceptance is highest among young adults. Among adults ages 18 to 32, 93 percent approve; among adults ages 64 and older, 68 percent approve.

The Pew Research survey in 2009 posed the question: "How do you think you would react if a member of your family told you they were going to marry a [white American/African-American/Hispanic-American/Asian-American]? Would you be fine with it, would it bother you but you would come to accept it, or would you not be able to accept it?" When respondents revealed their attitudes about interracial marriage, 63 percent said it would be fine with them if a family member married "out" to all three other major racial and ethnic groups tested in the survey, and 80 percent said they would be fine with a new member of their family who came from at least one of the "out" groups. In fact, according to the census data, more than a third of adults (35%) say they have a family member who is married to someone of a different race.

This 2009 survey found that acceptance of out-marriage to whites (81%) is somewhat higher than is acceptance of out-marriage to Asians (75%), Hispanics (73%) or blacks (66%). The survey also showed the flip side of the same coin: Black respondents are somewhat more accepting of all forms of intermarriage than are white or Hispanic respondents. Visit the Pew Research site or click here for the full report.