A "romantic" relationship where the two people are of different races.

Someone pointed out to me the other day that I am in a interracial relationship again. I was never aware of that in the first place. I guess then all my relationships have been. I was first kind of shocked that something like that may be one of the first things people think of when they see my boyfriend and I.

Later on I talked to a friend about it. He asked if there was a reason I only dated white guys. I never thought about it before. I guess the fact that I am asian, I lived in a pretty homoginized world until I moved away to college when I was 16. My parents are white (I was adopted as a baby), and grew up in a far from ethically diverse town. So my ideas about what I found attractive were based partly on that. I like tall, pale lanky unix.boys/artsy guys. Sometimes I waivered to the suit and tie corperate types.

I don't think that there is anything wrong with interracial relationships, except using it as a label. For some reason when I think of this term, I get a overly politically correct aura from it. It gives the same vibe affirmative action does, to me at least.
I never really think about it. For us it's not much of an issue. I'm as white as they come, my girlfriend is Korean. I don't think of her as different at all, in fact she is the most similar to me of any person I have ever found. If i ever anywhere in my head had any glimmer of belief that race might affect thought or behavior it is gone now. She very nearly understands me, and no one else has ever even come close. I dont think about her being Asian, except that i think many Asian girls (especially my girlfriend) are beautiful. Other than that I don't consider it an issue.

We were in Colorado last week and we got a few dirty looks. We even got harassed by the cops. But its impossible to say why, it might be because she has green hair or becuase i was a bit drunk, even though everyone else was drunker. Maybe it was just because i never truly meld into any human environment. But for whatever the reason, there is often an element of separation between us and some people. Even at a wedding with my extended family, some of them were acting strange. I'm probably just being paranoid, I don't know. But as far as i know, no one else has brought home a non-white girl.

I refuse to accept it as an issue. Maybe the reason no one flat out mentions it is because its obvious by how i act and look that if anyone commented unflatteringly about my girlfriend they'd end up on the floor. Or maybe the world is actually better than i give it credit for. I'd like to think so. But whatever the case, we love each other, and it would take a hell of a lot more than just the world to break us apart.

- an incorrect term used to describe a relationship bewteen two people from different ethnic groups.


The Concept Of Race

"Modern humans present very low levels of biological variation, that is not easily categorized.We're not that different compared to other species (dogs, chimps, gorillas). All dogs--from chihuahuas to great danes--are capable of interbreeding (therefore, they comprise a single species). Thus, the great morphological variation is not related to reproductive isolation." (1)

Many of the definitions regarding race began in the late 1700's as a response to miscegenation - or the mixing of blood between two different ethnic groups. At that point in history, humans could be considered chattel. Therefore, it was economically important to slave owners to determine the condition of the child of a union between two people of different colors. For example: if the father was the owner of the mother AND inheritance is based on patrilineal lines, then the child of that union could contend for the right to inherit the father's estate. This was a terrifying concept. It had to be decided in court whether products of miscegenation would be free, slave or servant for a period of years. A notable case includes the one drop rule.

The term race assumes that members of different ethnic groups are not human. This was a critical concept until slavery was abolished. Many of the slave owners manuals at the time assumed that people of African decsent and other people of color were less than human or not human at all. This made it more acceptable to own them. (This may be why slavery was called The Peculiar Intstition, it was riddled with paradox and contradiction. For example, if a master slept with a slave woman, this was not considered bestiality. On the other hand, offspring of such unions were considered racially improved - smarter, more human, more capable - and sometimes accorded more rights and privileges.

If one assumes that there is a human race, then various ethinic groups are variations on one race - human. Race is a construct employed by the dominant culture to seperate and divide different ethnic groups.

Interracial marriages were illegal in most states until July 12, 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws forbidding interracial marriages. This case was called The Loving Decision. (Loving VS Virginia, 1967) A White man and a Black women had married in another state and moved back to Virginia where they were charged with violating state law.

Current Perceptions

Excerpt from http://www.udayton.edu/~race/04needs/s98alouis.htm, Nacy John Alouise, The University of Dayton School of Law, Spring 1998.

"We are now approaching the 31st year of the Loving decision and views on interracial marriage have improved. In 1991 a Gallop Poll found that, for the first time, more people in the United States approved of interracial marriages (48%) then disapproved (42%).6 Also the number of interracially married couples in the United States has gone from 150,000 couples in 1970 to 1.1 million in 1994 and the number of children born out of interracial marriages jumped from 460,300 in 1970 to 1.9 million in 1994.7 Furthermore, a Gallop Poll indicates acceptance for interracial marriages is growing. Sixty-one percent of White Americans are more likely to approve of such marriages today, compared to 4% in 1958.8 In addition, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in fifty marriages are interracial which is four times the number compared to 1970."


(1)http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/anth102/lect23.html

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