New Study: 1 in 10 Marriages are Interracial

[HoosierGuy]

I saw this on television and found it a little surprising.

Interracial Marriage: 1 In 10 American Marriages Are Mixed, Census Reveals

One in 10 American marriages are between partners of a different race or ethnicity, according to data released on Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

[pam]

Having grown up in California, I don't find this suprising at all.

Now if I had grown up in Utah, I would be very surprised at the high statistics.

[annewandering]

Well of my 8 kids one is an interracial marriage. I do object to the term though since there is no such thing as race. Mixed skin tone marriages is more accurate and as stupid sounding as it actually is.

[prisonchaplain]

I did not marry another race, though I'll concede that an interracial marriage was the product of my sacred union.

[Wingnut]

I do object to the term though since there is no such thing as race.

What do you mean by this?

[RipplecutBuddha]

probably the idea that we're all of one human race, and that skin tone differences are just that, not anything indicative of something that would warrant breaking humanity down into different racial components.

I happen to agree with this particular world view, but until we get there, we will see many more horrible things done/said because of our differences rather good things done/said because of our common ground.

[Wingnut]

probably the idea that we're all of one human race

We are all one human species, but there are demonstrable genetic differences between races.

[prisonchaplain]

There are different races...cultures...socio-economic statuses, and perspectives, religions, skin complexions, hobbies, political viewpoints...oh the list could go on for so long. Frankly, race probably belongs low-to-middling in importance.

Of course, what trumps it all is being led by the Spirit, and in receiving the "holy yes" before we join together in holy matrimony.

[annewandering]

We are all one human species, but there are demonstrable genetic differences between races.

No there is not. I thought so. I was taught so. It just aint so. There are genetic differences between different groups of people but not by the so called standard races. Skin color isnt even a reliable characteristic. There isnt a reliable characteristic to determine races at all. We have been conned to set people apart by race and it is just a big lie.

[Vort]

No there is not. I thought so. I was taught so. It just aint so. There are genetic differences between different groups of people but not by the so called standard races. Skin color isnt even a reliable characteristic. There isnt a reliable characteristic to determine races at all. We have been conned to set people apart by race and it is just a big lie.

Not so, anne. The traditional "races" do indeed show certain genetic tendencies and markers. This should not surprise us, though, as the different "races" represent very extended and intermixed families, which would obviously tend to have common gene groupings. It is merely political correctness run amok to suggest otherwise, due to the idea of "races" being unfashionable these days.

[Hala401]

I saw this on television and found it a little surprising.

Interracial Marriage: 1 In 10 American Marriages Are Mixed, Census Reveals

One in 10 American marriages are between partners of a different race or ethnicity, according to data released on Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

I think their children are beautiful.

[annewandering]

sorry, Vort, but that is incorrect. sounds so nice and reasonable but its not true. This link is an interesting discussion on the subject and does present opposing views. Race and genetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mostly, it seems the differences are more geographical and family'tribe. If there are races there would be a whole bunch more than three. Probably around 9 or so at least, if you could divide them up to groups widely separated enough geneticallyto be classified as a different race.

I did fight this battle with my daughter and thought she was nuts but the more I read the more I have to conclude she is right.

another interesting link: Backintyme Essays Blog Archive Can DNA Tell What “Race” You Are? (E10)

and: Race is an unscientific concept, experts say

Edited April 29, 2012 by annewandering

[HEthePrimate]

It's all a matter of definition, I suppose. The important thing, anyway, is not whether or not races exist, but what significance we attach to them. A Japanese man may be of a different race than I am, but we are still from the same species, Homo sapiens, and all of us are children of God. I can recognize differences between people, but not let those differences fool me into thinking that I am somehow "better" or "worse" than people who are different than I. And if there are no races, well, same thing. There are still differences among us, but we're all people, and more alike than different.

And now I'll go all feminist on you and say that sex and gender are not always cut-and-dried concepts. Obviously there are differences between men and women, but we are still more alike than different.

Edited April 29, 2012 by HEthePrimate

[NeuroTypical]

My family can trace our ancestry back to juuust barely the English side of the England/Scotland border. It's been a sore point for decades - despite having a Scottish last name, we can't point to a Scottish ancestor. So I married someone who could, so my kids could reap the blessings of genuine Scottish ancestry.

(If this lighthearted bit of LM family story gives you a brief smile because it's basically frivolous nonsense, you might ask yourself why we care so much about a story like this in the first place.)

[pam]

sorry, Vort, but that is incorrect. sounds so nice and reasonable but its not true. This link is an interesting discussion on the subject and does present opposing views. Race and genetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mostly, it seems the differences are more geographical and family'tribe. If there are races there would be a whole bunch more than three. Probably around 9 or so at least, if you could divide them up to groups widely separated enough geneticallyto be classified as a different race.

I did fight this battle with my daughter and thought she was nuts but the more I read the more I have to conclude she is right.

another interesting link: Backintyme Essays Blog Archive Can DNA Tell What “Race” You Are? (E10)

and: Race is an unscientific concept, experts say

I'm not sure those examples really prove that there is no such thing as race. What I get from them is DNA can't determine what race you belong to but what geographical region you may have originated from.

So to me, there is still such a thing as race.

And this is really taking HG's thread off into a tangent.

[RipplecutBuddha]

We are all one human species, but there are demonstrable genetic differences between races.

Let me say it this way; God sees no difference, therefore I ought not see it either.

[Tyler90AZ]

The master of tangents has arrived!

Regardless of race we are all the same starting out. It is environmental factors, some over a long period of time, that make us different. The way we think of race is a facade. If from the beginning of human existence we switched Asians with blacks. The blacks would be the race known for intelligence. Whereas, the Asians would be known as the more athletic race.

[Tyler90AZ]

I saw this on television and found it a little surprising.

Interracial Marriage: 1 In 10 American Marriages Are Mixed, Census Reveals

One in 10 American marriages are between partners of a different race or ethnicity, according to data released on Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

I am a little surprised that it is only one in 10. It seems like it is higher from where I sit.

[pam]

The master of tangents has arrived!

Regardless of race we are all the same starting out. It is environmental factors, some over a long period of time, that make us different. The way we think of race is a facade. If from the beginning of human existence we switched Asians with blacks. The blacks would be the race known for intelligence. Whereas, the Asians would be known as the more athletic race.

Wouldn't that be considered more along the line of stereotyping? That would be something totally different.

[Tyler90AZ]

Wouldn't that be considered more along the line of stereotyping? That would be something totally different.

The thing is most people think of races as being very different. Which overtime, in some sense, they have become very different. Although races have developed different attributes overtime; it is false to say one is better then the other. In the beginning all was the same and slowly overtime changed. That includes skin color and physical features.

I think that is what Anne is getting at and I agree.

[Vort]

sorry, Vort, but that is incorrect. sounds so nice and reasonable but its not true. This link is an interesting discussion on the subject and does present opposing views. Race and genetics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In cases such as these, Wikipedia is not a good source for original information. Note this paragraph, which utterly distorts the modern idea of "race" with oversimplifications based on attitudes of one and two centuries ago:

For these reasons the fact that there are genetically differentiated populations does not necessarily validate the concept of race - since racial categorization of individuals is generally based on very broad criteria founded on arbitrary phenotypical characteristics such as skin color, which do not correlate well with geographic ancestry. For example, there is no logical reason that the typical American racial classification of people in groups of Black and White skin and Asian and Amerindian geographical ancestry is a better description of biological variation than other possible groupings of traits. Specialists in race, both geneticists and anthropologists, maintain that modern ideas of race are therefore primarily historical constructions that reflect the pattern of contact between previously distinct populations in the colonial period.

Sure, if you cherry-pick your definitions, you can argue that those definitions aren't useful. But that's more a strawman technique than a useful analysis of terminology.

Example: Medically, those of African descent are much more likely to be predisposed toward sickle-cell anemia. In other words, the racial classification of "black African" is useful to identify such predisposition. So, yes, "race" does indeed indicate genetic difference.

Let me try to head off further unnecessary disagreement by pointing out what I was responding to. You wrote:

There are genetic differences between different groups of people but not by the so called standard races.

It is to this statement of yours -- that races do not correlate with predictable genetic differences -- that I disagree. The social or scientific usefulness of social ideas of race is not my point, nor do I find it particularly interesting.

[HoosierGuy]

I'm with Bill Maher on this subject. All these interracial marriage are a result from when adult women were girls and watched MTV and all that rap and hip hop. These are MTV fan fad marriages.

[pam]

I'm with Bill Maher on this subject. All these interracial marriage are a result from when adult women were girls and watched MTV and all that rap and hip hop. These are MTV fan fad marriages.

Well I've always considered Bill Maher an idiot. This just confirms it for me.

[Hala401]

I'm with Bill Maher on this subject. All these interracial marriage are a result from when adult women were girls and watched MTV and all that rap and hip hop. These are MTV fan fad marriages.

Now, you have said the wrong thing in my sight.

I was raised in a dirt poor fruit migrant family so poor, we couldn't even measure up to being trailer trash. My family felt that anyone who was not just like them were somehow bad. I carried that attitude until Heavenly Father decided to heal me but it took years. I was stuborn but not like God.

I was one of them bible thumpin folk who condemned everyone else as sinners, especially Catholics and the Mormon cult. Well first came Hurricane Mitch, and after that, according to the design of God, I wound up down in Honduras helping to rebuild. I came home with a love for Hispanics.

Later, since I was such a devout Bible thumper, I was asked to go to Kenya to save the dirty sinners. Imagine my absolute shock when I started to get off the plane and there were Black people there! Woe is me, I thought. I came home with a deep love and respect for black people.

Then 9/11 happened, and while I hated who ever attacked us, I just never thought it could be everyone in the Middle East. So, I started reading about the Middle East and the Quran. I was absolutely appalled by the attitude of evangelicals, and what some in our government tried to do, that I converted to Islam. I came out of Islam with a deeper understanding of religious fervor, Middle Eastern people, and a desire to really find God, and do what he says to do.

So then Mormon Sister Missionaries, captured me running loose in the Mid West. Now I have a deep love for Jesus Christ, my church, and am moved to try to do everything I can to please Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father is no respecter of race, or anything else. He looks at our actions.

I think that one of the most repulsive things we can do is hate another person because of their race, nationality, or family. Myself, I look forward to such mixing of the races that they all disappear. Maybe one day my Daughter will marry one of the blackest men on earth, and they will have a dozen beautiful children.

[Vort]

HoosierGuy is just being facetious, Hala.