They say love is blind … and then with the increase in interracial marriages came the love is color blind phrase.
According to the Current Population Survey (CPS) the number of interracial married couples increased from 310,000 in 1970 to 1.3 million in 1994; with 296,000 of the interracial married couples being Black-White.
So what could this be attributed to?
"It's becoming increasingly more acceptable," says Dr. Darlene Powell Hopson, a Connecticut clinical psychologist. "For many people it's a way of not limiting your choices in mate selection. People are more willing to take the risk in having more choices.”
The days of thinking ‘jungle fever’ whenever we see an interracial couple are over. People have an array of reasons for dating and marrying interracially. More choices can lead to a meaningful relationship.
There is also another reason for the rise in interracial marriages given by Dr. Larry E. Davis, a psychologist and author of ‘Black and Single: Meeting and Choosing a Partner Who’s Right for you’ - a shortage of Black men for Black women. He also adds that Black men try to find status and beauty in relationships, and some Black men think White women hold these qualities more than Black women.
"The number of Black women to Black men is higher. There are more women than men which reduces the available pool of partnership," said Dr. Davis. "Men have historically dated for beauty and status. White women were believed to bring both to Black males."
The perception of black beauty has increased too, elevating the status of Black women. More White men are accepting this notion hence marrying Black women who have a good chance of getting married anyway. Interracial marriages are on the rise because the races are interacting more. The barriers that used to make it hard for interactions between races to happen have reduced.
Of the 296,000 Black-White interracial married couples in 1994, 196,000 were between Black men and White women and the other 100,000 being between Black women and White men.
Most celebrity athletes and entertainers have been criticized for interracial dating and marriage, people must understand that because they live in a more global society, constraints to marrying across racial borders are less.
Bernard S. Cohen, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney who represented Mildred and Richard Loving, the infamous interracial couple from Virginia who married in 1958 in spite of the law which forbade interracial marriages believes the increase is “a reflection of a more open and thoughtful society."
And with the ban lifted, more and more people have the freedom to date interracially. There is more chance for people of different races to meet, especially in the corporate world, which explains the increase in interracial marriages. They are in a world that is more racially mixed in terms of association and socializing.
