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Our group appreciates everyone that took the time to read and look through our padlet. We hope you enjoyed learning about interracial families as much as we did!

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Time, By The. " Question of the Month." Jim Crow Museum: Question of the Month. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.

@ACLU. "Loving v. Virginia: The Case Over Interracial Marriage." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.

(http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=pjcr)

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Interracial_Marriage.aspx#2

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Interracial_Marriage.aspx

http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2013/08/multiracial-youth.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws

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My interview begins with the individual backgrounds of our couple, Jason and Kylie. Jason was born into an African American family in 1970 and quickly adopted by a prominent white upper middle class family. Jason’s newly adopted father was a lawyer in the city of Berkeley while his adopted mother was a stay at home wife/mother to himself and his two other white sisters. Jason was the only African American in the family. Kylie was born and raised on the small island of New Zealand. Kylie was always sheltered from mainland problems and issues, including a lot of the bigotry and stereotypical segregation our society sees nowadays. Seven years ago Jason met Kylie online through some mutual friends and their friendship grew. Both Jason and Kylie traveled back and forth to and from New Zealand and the US before Jason proposed. Within a year Kylie moved to the United States to start a family with Jason and his two teenage girls from a previous marriage. I sat down with the couple to talk to them about their views on interracial marriages and families and see what type of reactions they have received from society, friends and family both stateside and from other cultures.

• I asked Jason “what it was like growing up in the 1970’s being the only African American in his family?” Jason replied “I never felt like I was the outside in my family, I was always treated, disciplined, and loved just like my sisters. My parents didn’t care about the other people’s opinion as to why they would adopt a black child, I was their son regardless the color of my skin.”

• I asked, “throughout school do you ever recall your peers treating you differently because the color of your skin?” Jason states, “The times that stick out the most for me was in college, I was in a relationship with a white girl from my school. I never felt or received any grief from other white people it was always other black students that got upset with me for going outside my own race. It felt like I should only date girls of my own color and something was wrong with me for choosing to be with anyone outside my race.”

• I asked Jason, “have you ever not had support or felt a disapproval from your family or the family of someone you’ve dated because the relationship was an interracial?” He said, “my family always gave me their support with whoever I was dating at the time and even in both my marriages. Like any parent they just want to see their child find someone that makes them happy. As for my ex-wife’s family they never said they didn’t like me or their daughter marrying someone outside her race, but I never felt like they full approved of our relationship. One night in particular we went to her fathers for dinner, when we pulled up to the house he had a confederate flag hanging for the whole neighborhood to see. When I had confronted him about his flag he told me “it was to show southern pride and had nothing to do with racism” Jason disagreed and said “a man as smart as he was would know better than to hang a confederate flag up especially when his black son in law was coming over for dinner. It was not to show southern pride but in my opinion make his feelings loud and clear.”

• I asked, “Kylie and Jason, what differences have noticed between the United States and New Zealand when it comes to interracial dating and marriage?” Kylie’s response was, “people back home are more relaxed than the people in the US. We don’t care who’s with who, its more about finding someone that makes you happy and I’ve found that with Jason so to me and the people in my life that’s all that ever mattered. People in the Us are more uptight, angry, and walk around with a chip on their shoulder. People in the US seem to have their priorities mixed it, I’ve noticed its more about impressing other people and other people’s opinions hold a lot of weight. Instead of more important things in life like being happy with yourself, your spouse, and having a strong family.” Jason agrees and also includes, “I notice people in New Zealand are truly happy and it doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like they are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I come back home and notice that with every race they have segregated themselves into the never ending cycle of racism.”

• I asked “Jason and Kylie, do you think your marriage is more difficult because you’re and interracial couple?” Jason’s responds with, “No I don’t feel my marriage would be any different if we were both white or black. Our marriage can be as easy or difficult as we make it, if we choose to let our skin color control our marriage then that’s our choice.” Kylie says, “when choosing to marry Jason I never thought about the color of his skin being an issue or making me question if I should marry this man or not. I just knew this was who I wanted to be with and I was packing up my bags and marrying this guy from California.”

• “What type of moral and ethical advice would you give your children so they can handle any bigotry and racism?” Jason said, “from my past experiences I’ve learned that the people that make these kinds of comments to another person are typically less educated and ignorant, once they get to know me I would hope they’d realized I’m a good person. I would tell my kids to ignore that person because their words don’t matter, brush it off and be a better person than they are. I would also tell them if they give into the same hatred their receiving, then they’ll get stuck in this never ending cycle that will continue to live on.

• Jason and Kylie were a great couple to work with. Not only where they open and honest to any questions I had but they also helped me understand their point of views on interracial families. I think they have a well rounded relationship that’s not falling victim to any negativities that come their way.

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Views of interracial families in other societies 

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Views of interracial families in other societies 

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Anti-miscegenation laws- "were laws that enforced racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes also sex between members of different races."

"One common theme amongst most international opinions of interracial partnerships is the objectification of women. For example, China passed a law for a period of time that banned Chinese women from marrying outside of their own race. This isn’t a new concept in Chinese history as during the Tang dynasty, people weren’t allowed to “pretend to be Chinese” and this involved not allowing foreign men to marry Chinese women. Civil rights groups in China have been fighting this notion and while the formerly mentioned law has been repealed, there’s a still a long way to go."

"Similar laws were also enforced in Nazi Germany as part of the Nuremberg laws, and in South Africa as part of the system of Apartheid. In the United States, interracial marriage, cohabitation and sex have been termed "miscegenation" since the term was coined in 1863. Contemporary usage of the term is less frequent, except to refer to historical laws banning the practice."

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● In the past interracial relationships and/or families were not often represented in our culture in the United States.
● Only within the last 20 years has it started to become more of a common thing.
● This relationship is now highly represented in ads, TV shows, movies, and media.

Some examples include:
○ This study by Pepperdine University shows that on the popular TV show “Glee” “48 interracial interactions occurred” (http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=pjcr)

○ Many ads are now featuring interracial couples one of which is the Tiffany & Co. ad; “Will You”. This ad features many couples including an interracial couple and their engagement. A Tiffany’s spokesperson commented on the ad “Nowadays, the road to marriage is no longer linear” which gives some insight into why they had included the use of this couple. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/tiffanys-diversity_n_6753734.html)

○ Video of Tiffany’s ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7pp_4d01ls#action=share

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Societal structures that impact Interracial Families  

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Societal structures that impact Interracial Families  

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The impact of education on interracial relationships is negative and positive. Even though there are no more segregation laws, neighborhoods are still highly segregated. Most interracial relationships are between highly educated minorities and Caucasians. They live in a more integrated society, therefore have more opportunities to marry or date outside their race. Many minorities in poverty live in segregated areas which make it harder to marry outside their race. Just 1.2 percent of black women and 3.6 percent of black males choose interracial marriage. This is due to the fact that the prejudice for a black and white couple is still high. This prejudice is not as common for other racial groups. According to the United States census bureau, 5.5 percent of marriages were interracial. False beliefs and racist attitudes towards interracial unions are still taught to children and believed my many. Those unable to branch out in their education and beliefs cannot understand the beauty of an integrated society. Many couples in a healthy interracial relationship are older, well educated, and financially stable. Even in an integrated school system, multiracial children face discrimination, some schools do not allow kids to pick more than one race on school forms which causes confusion on how to properly identify themselves. In conclusion due to current social structure and cultural beliefs, it appears that interracial marriages have a much better chance at success if they are well informed and well educated

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                      The History behind Interracial families 

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                      The History behind Interracial families 

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The discrimination and distaste for interracial partnerships in the US dates back to when it was only a handful of colonies. Most of the colonies had banned whites from marrying other races on account that other they “inferior” and doing so was akin to bestiality. While many people probably believed so, it is more likely that the reason was to prevent non-whites from inheriting white class and privilege as well as keeping them as a cheap - and in the case of slavery, free - source of labor. Evidence for this is found in a law present during slavery, which stated that anyone who had even a distant relative of African ancestry was deemed one-hundred percent black under the law. This ensured that white men could rape slave women without hampering the slave population. In the case of white women, there was a law in place that proclaimed any women who married a slave became a slave herself. During the period of mass immigration to America, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan grew massively and the government took a strong stance against “lesser” races “diluting” America. The Irish, Italians, Poles, and Jews were clumped in this as well.
It wasn’t until the case of Loving vs. Virginia in 1967 that interracial marriage became legal. Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter tried to get married in Virginia in which they were told by the judge to either face prison for a year or leave the state for 25. He then remarked, “Almighty God created the races, white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.” The couple opted to travel to DC and get married there. Upon their return to Virginia, they were arrested and hence came into light the legendary case of Loving vs. Virginia in which they won.
Of course, the ban didn’t end discrimination. In 1994 the principal of a high school in Alabama threatened to cancel Prom because there was a large amount of interracial couples going. In 1996 a church was reluctant to bury the remains of mixed child with the rest of his white family; when his parents tried to get married, the church refused. Such intolerance is still lives on even to this day.

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How Society Defines Interracial families  

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How Society Defines Interracial families  

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● The marriage between people who are of different racial or ethnic groups
● In the past this concept has not been very popular, but is currently growing. About 5.5% of all marriages in the U.S. are interracial.
● The decline in social prejudice plays a huge role in the growing rate of interracial marriages.