It all started when the first English occupants in America have built their colonies in the 1600’s. The Americans have been criticizing these interracial relationships because they do not want a black slave to marry a white person. These relationships have been highly contested in the states of Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Massachusetts, and Maryland where there are laws that prohibited interracial marriage.
By the year 1691, the state of Virginia have charged serious offenses to interracial couples and labeling their siblings to be bastards and outcast in the society. When the 13th amendment on the American constitution was instituted in 1865 in some southern states of America, slavery on blacks was abolished. However, interracial marriage is not yet allowed and will still be banned from every part of the country. The reason is, many white Americans do not want any black slaves or Native Americans pollute their genuine white race.
Many believe that 70 percent of black Americans nowadays are descendants of interracial couples. Many great black Americans that have lived like Martin Luther King Jr. and Booker T. Washington came from black and white ancestors. In the civil war era where blacks have been fighting for equal rights, Frederick Douglas was very vocal on saying that interracial marriage can trigger the acceptance of the exiled black slaves in the American society.
When the Supreme Court has abolished the last anti-miscegenation laws on interracial marriages, there was a great increase on the number of relationships that involved blacks and whites. Although the law now accepts it, there is still the existence of cultural betrayal. Many black Americans believe that whenever their children are dating or suppose to marry a white, they are betraying their families and especially their cultural heritage.
Many interracial couples have fought for this kind of relationship to be accepted with open arms in every society because they believe that it can come up to be the solution on racial prejudice and racial conflicts. They call for reconciliation because they see the world one day living in equality and racism is no more tolerated. More importantly, race is not an issue anymore because everybody is unified as one in the eyes of God, which is the human race.
Interracial relationships have some advantages and disadvantages, although there could be a number of advantages to be identified but some may encounter problems when they are in interracial relationships. Here are some that can be advantageous or disadvantageous in some aspects.
1.It can bring to a more colorful family history. Family members can learn more on their heritage and their ancestors. It can be an interesting subject whenever there are stories why their ancestors came to this place and how they have lived their lives even they have different races.
2.It could be more appealing to others, if the person is a combination of two different races. The feeling of uniqueness can be an attraction especially if the person knows how to blend well to different societies. In some instances a person with interracial heritage can feel fresh if he has places to visit if both of his parents came from two different countries.
3.If a person is hanging out with someone with a different racial origin, there is the opportunity to learn the person’s culture and tradition. These can be very interesting subjects to carry as the person goes home, and he may share to his peers what he had learned and experience.
4. Sometimes the acceptance can be very disturbing. There are some people that cannot get over on the reality that people can now live together even with different races. Most parents in this generation that have children that are product of interracial relationships still experience some isolated cases of discrimination and prejudice.
5.There are also cases where there are children that were born on interracial relationships come back to their heritage to get some revenge because of the racial issue that were not accepted in their situations. This could not be a good resort to get over the anger and hatred. Some people do these things as their responsibility to point out their reasons. These instances may lead to family conflicts and feud.
Interracial relationships may be good or bad depending on one’s principle. No matter what origin or race the person may come from, it is important that people realize that all people are created equal in eyes of God. People must learn how to accept no matter what the color, the race and tradition.
