Lately, we’ve been reporting on similarities of race relations in this country today as opposed to that of old. But, now there are reports that interracial marriage between African Americans and whites are on the rise. Other minority groups aren’t seeing a significant difference in their rate of marriage to whites.
USA Today reports that the study, published in the October edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family, found that in 2008, that of all black marriages, 10.7% were, in the past year, married to whites. The measure they use to show a significant increase is that in 1980, there were only 3% of said marriages.
(There are more interracial marriages between between blacks and whites, such as that of actors Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs)
But, Roderick Harrison, a demographer at Howard University and the Joint Center for Political and Economical Studies pointed out that we are still the least “assimilated.” The numbers show that Asians in 2008, married whites at the rate of 34% and Hispanics to non-Hispanics at 28%.
But none of this so-called benchmark of integration has done anything to remedy the lack of opportunities for black America. As the director of the Cornell Population Center and the study’s co-author, Daniel Lichter, put it, “This doesn’t imply that we’ve moved into a post-racial society.” The number of black and white marriages still remain very low.
The lead author on the interracial marriage study, Zhenchao Qian, a sociology professor at Ohio State University, suggests that the more opportunities African Americans experience by way of “higher levels of education” and in the workplace, the more interaction they have with whites on those levels, thus suggesting that African Americans have made more economical and social progress since 1980.
But as Harrison stated in the report, it still suggests ”that the divide in this country remains between blacks and everybody else.” There has not been a major exodus into opportunity for African Americans. The majority of interracial marriages between blacks and whites, by Qian’s admission, in at least the last 10 years, can probably be found between the more wealthy of the two groups.
The insinuated element of the report is that integration shows more progress, but we’re still watching the first African American President be told on the Congressional floor during his speech that he lied, we watched Troy Davis be put to death based on speculation, and our children still lag behind in educational resources.
The interracial marriage shouldn’t be weighed against opportunity and/or integration, but the report’s significance in those areas is insinuated. We are happy for those who can find happiness with anyone. That’s the hot commodity of the day. Who cares who you’re married to as long as you’re happy.
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