Interracial Dating

Race and ethnicity as socially-constructed categories separates friends from the same background. In the article “Best of Friends, Worlds Apart,” Cuban immigrant Joel Ruiz finds himself stuck between two worlds after landing on American soil. Ruiz’s childhood friend Valdes traveled to the United States together and settled down near one another. Valdes lives a well-off life in the Caucasian community as a Cuban. On the other hand, Ruiz identify himself as Cuban, yet, whites see him simply as black.

The book highlights both historical and recent events surrounding the issues involving race and racial segregation. “Historically, the concept of race has changed across cultures and eras, eventually becoming less connected with ancestral and familial ties, and more concerned with superficial physical characteristics” (Little, 2014, Ch. 11.1). Author Robyn Maynard explains that much of the racial issues faced by Black Canadians has to do with the fact that they are part of the visible minority. She explains that because Black Canadians are part of the minority, the “Black communities experience significant societal pressure to appeal to white middle-class norms (Maynard, 2017, pg. 13)”.

According to the Pew Research Center, our generation is more likely to get married to someone from a distinct culture or race than our previous generations. These statistics show that of the 3.6 million adults who got married in 2013, 58% of American Indians, 28% of Asians, 19% of blacks and 7% of whites have a spouse whose race was different from their own. According to these statistics, 4 in 10 people have a mixed race background and classify as multiracial. Indeed, even Naomi agrees with the fact that “Racial mixing will become increasingly common” which contradicts her own argument of race that “people will hang on to racial identity for dear life because that's what their father and grandfather did” (Riley). The arguments that Riley makes by saying that people are unlikely to be around others from distinct cultures are disproven by the fact that more interracial marriages are occurring.

The section of “White Woman, Black Man” further delves into his views of white women and the role that society has in shaping gender relations between black men and white women and also in influencing masculinity and femininity.

The author, Hua Hsu, believes the end of white America was put on a national spotlight when Obama was elected president, which is on the heels of the news of the majority minority switch that is supposed to take place in 2042. This switch would bring the relevancy of W.E.B Dubois, a civil rights activist, prediction of the problem of the twentieth century would be the color line, the race identification society asserts on individuals (Hsu 1). That reality, where the color line becomes a problem, comes to fruition with Donald Trump’s white nationalist views and his growing popularity. His ascendancy illustrates the problem of how we identify individuals and whether America will blur the boundary of race, where people are confined by the identity of race.

Interracial marriage has grown to be very prevalent in society. The percentage of mixed race children in the United States is continuously growing along with the amount of interracial marriages.

In Longtown, Ohio there is a small town where white and black people for nearly 200 years. I was amazed by this because 200 years ago anywhere else there was segregation against the blacks and they didn’t have the freedom they would have had if they lived in this certain town, I also wondered why they let the two races mix freely. Though now Longtown’s history is fading away because there are biracial relationships and people are forgetting that it doesn’t matter what color you are we are all the same. So the founder of Longtown’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson Connor Keiser is trying to keep that history alive.

The 2010 census revealed that 1 in 10 marriages are made up of interracial couples, a 28% increase since 2000. Interracial marriages are most common between opposite sex couples in the Western and South Western regions of the United States. Pew research in 2010 revealed that 15% of new marriages in 2010 were between different people and ethnicities which was almost double from 1980. In 1990 only 48% of Americans approved of interracial marriage. By 2012 the approval rate was up to 83%.

A New Family: Interracial Relationships and Religion in The Secret Life of Bees In such a diverse world where different races come together and interact, the early 1960s reveal society’s surprised reaction to these relationships. Interracial relationships are strongly frowned upon during this time, almost as if they are illegal. Fortunately, over time, people begin to accept those with different backgrounds and can easily communicate with each other. Hardships are still present today, but society in moving in a better direction.

Are they black or white? Biraciality has become more prominent in America than it ever has before. Society’s definition and use of race restricts biracial people, specifically black and white, from identifying as they see fit. When two people enter into an interracial relationship

One where participants rated their satisfaction with their roommates on a scale, and the other they used a cover story of multitasking ability to test their racial prejudices. The change in racial prejudices served as the dependent variable. Their results in roommate satisfaction matched that in previous studies. Interracial roommate relationships were reported as less satisfying, less socially involving, and less comfortable than those with same race roommates. Racial attitudes changed after being measured in the second session.

Although it defines and affects everyone, the topic of “race” is a difficult one. To some, race is the most important aspect of their life, while to others race is what they check off on forms. James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother demonstrates racial topics and issues that discuss origins, sense of self, sense of identity, and neutrality.

In this paper, I will be critiquing these articles and films in order to evaluate the purpose of these readings and how they have helped further develop race in America. But most importantly, whether the author has achieved its purpose to inform readers about CRT, whiteness, and racial inequality. First article, I will be analyzing is Critical Race Theory: An Introduction by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic. Both authors explore Critical Race Theory in detail. As I previously mentioned, CRT is one of the most important developments mainly in the legal studies department.

Mistreatment of Women The novels The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans, and On the Road by Jack Kerouac all connect using the feminist theory by showing the ongoing mistreatment and lack of respect for women by men. The feminist theory analyzes gender inequality, mistreatment of women, and the issue of objectifying women in society. All of the men in these novels by the name of Ray Smith, Japhy Ryder, Leo Percepied, Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty, and Ed Dunkel objectify women and are only interested in their physical attributes. The men in these novels cheat on women, use them for personal sexual pleasure, and abandon them when most convenient for themselves.

The culture that these two boys uphold with these women of different race, behaves differently during shifts of intimacy. Junot Diaz states “ A white girl might just give it up right then. Don’t stop her” (396). A stereotype amongst Caucasian women suggests that they are loose, shows how a males culture has negatively influence the views of other groups. A wide range of the comments led by him was associated with stereotypical ideas of specific race associated with the women.