Interracial Marriage in the African-American Community
21 February 2008The last installment of the African-American culture study reveals that even though most African-Americans know an interracial couple, less than half (49%) said they would consider marrying someone outside of their race.
“In African-American culture, interracial marriage can be tricky. Acceptance is high, but there are minefields to overcome,” says Lawrence Martin Johnson Pratt, host of the Technocolorradioshow, a technology information FM radio show for African-Americans in New York (90.3FM WHCR). “In-laws are an issue for any couple, but African-American in-laws can be particularly critical. Racial loyalty is an issue, but generally it’s one the individual has to overcome. Many black women have an internalized stereotypical belief that non African-American men would not find them attractive. The good news is, in the last 20 years, racism, as a reason to shy away from interracial marriage, has become less and less of an issue.”
Survey data indicates that African-American males are entering into interracial relationships much more frequently. Those surveyed said in interracial relationships, the male is African-American 67% of the time vs. 33% for women.
We also asked respondents if they thought life as an interracial couple was more difficult:
- 12% said it was easier than they thought.
- 24% said it was harder than they thought.
- 38% said it was no different than they thought.
- 26% said they didn’t know.
Full results for the African-American Culture Study can be found on www.theafricanamericanvoice.com.
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