WHAT'S BEHIND THE ESCALATING TREND?
Almost anywhere you go these days, you will encounter
mixed-race couples: at the grocery store, the mall, the theater, at a
company function, at: a concert, even at church. And while for years
the Black man-White woman couple was more prevalent, today many social
observers say that the pairing of Black women and White men is just as
common.
That certainly seems to be the case in cities such
as St. Paul-Minneapolis, where interracial couples long have thrived.
But the social trend also is quite evident in other large cities such
as Chicago and New York, Atlanta and Detroit, where there is a
noticeable and striking increase in the number of mixed-race couples,
especially Black women with White mates.
"Interracial couples are more noticeable and
prominent than ever," says a Midwest-based author who has observed the
changes in social trends for some 40 years. "But the recent numbers of
Black women being escorted by White men is, well, startling, to say
the least."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1997 there
were 311,000 interracial (Black-White) married couples, more than six
times as many as in 1960. Of those, 201,000 were comprised of a Black
husband and White wife, while there were 110,000 couples in which the
husband was White and the wife Black. Some estimate that today 10
percent of married Black men have mates of another race.
Some social observers say that the increase in
cross-cultural relationships is tied directly to the breakdown of
school and residential segregation and the 1967 overthrow of the last
laws. That year the U.S. Supreme Court unconstitutional laws barring
racial intermarriage in states. A mixed couple in Virginia had
challenged the state's 1924 antimiscegenation statute in response to
their being forced by local law officials to live apart, to jail or
leave the state.
In addition, most grade schools and colleges are
integrated, and so are workplaces and neighborhoods. Many middle-class
Black kids grow up in affluent White areas and socialize with White
kids from kindergarten on. When they adolescent and teen years, they
naturally are attracted to those within the same social circles in
which they and in which they are comfortable.
Alvin Poussaint, MD, a professor of psychiatry at
Harvard School, says there is an increase in interracial marriages
this time because Black people are moving more more into what he
refers to as the "mainstream of American society," and social barriers
are dissolving. He and others also say that taboos against interracial
dating and marriage are easing.
"Some of the negative attitudes toward interracial
marriage have been lifted considerably," says Dr. Poussaint. "Today
you see young people watching MTV [where they see Whites and Blacks
interacting in the music videos]. You see more mixed dating and mixed
couples. This has become less taboo. You also see an easing of a kind
of Black-consciousness mentality. There is not the same kind of
pressure on Blacks who are thinking about dating or marrying
interracially. That is easing up and allowing people to feel more
accepted. When you go to a Links ball or to the Boule, you see people
who are interracially married. No one tells them that they can't be
accepted into the social group because they have married outside the
race. Since there is no social sanction in the Black community, people
feel free to say, `I like this person and this is what I want to do,
so I'll do it.'"
The specific reasons behind the escalating trend of dating and
mating across color and racial lines vary from individual to individual. Some
Black women say they were attracted to their White spouses because they had
found it difficult to meet Black men on their social and income levels. Others
say their mates treat them well and share common interests.
Some people seem to simply prefer to date people of another
race. For instance, Robert DeNiro has had two Black wives and has dated a number
of Black women, including models Naomi Campbell and Tookie Smith. O. J. Simpson
continues to demonstrate a preference for White women, and Whoopi Goldberg
consistently dates White guys.
