Is There Any Way Out for Blacks? Stats Show Blacks Are Being Left Out of The Interracial Dating Game By William Javier Nelson Before I begin, let me say that I anticipate (hope) that this essay will generate more questions than it answers. The Washington Post published an article on interracial marriage as the last in a series of related pieces. Written by Post staffer Michael A. Fletcher, the article paints a promising picture of continued and increasing rates of intermarriage between members of minority groups and Caucasians (whites). Fletcher states that "Today, almost one-third of US-born Hispanics (Latinos) ages 25 to 34 are married to non-Hispanic whites. In addition, 36 percent of young Asian Pacific American men born in the United States marry white women, and 45 percent of US-born Asian Pacific women took white husbands. The vast majority of Native Americans also marry whites." African Americans are not in this picture. Their rates of outmarriage to whites are fairly low. Though increasing substantially, the numbers and percentages of black/white couples do not approach those of interracial liaisons common to other groups. African American women are particularly absent from this process. When one combines this endogamous (marrying within one's group) isolation of African Americans with the tendency of offspring in Asian/white, Latino/white and Indian/white unions to be considered and labeled white, a picture comes to mind of a beige America emerging which is subject to precisely the same assimilative "Americanizing" processes that united the various European immigrants a century ago. Both processes are marked by an absence of African Americans. ______________________ Though increasing substantially, the numbers and percentages of black/white couples do not approach those of interracial liaisons common to other groups. ______________________ If that is not bad enough for African Americans, Fletcher has another bitter pill to throw the black reader: "Almost one in three children whose fathers are white and mothers black identified themselves as white, according to an analysis of 1990 census data done by Harvard University sociologist Mary C. Waters. That was almost a 50% increase over 1980, when fewer than one in four children with black mothers and white fathers identified as white, a surprising change in a nation that for generations promoted the idea that even one drop of black blood makes one black." Although this data does not deal with the more numerous black father/white mother unions, the message is clear: One Drop is eroding among those blacks who do interracially marry. So, according to Fletcher, what we have potentially happening in the 21st century is a permanent, isolated black group that practices endogamy, remains outside the "American mainstream" and does not even have the previously exercised luxury of using One Drop to corral lighter-skinned persons with black ancestry into the black group. Instead of black versus white it's black versus beige. As if to underline this, Fletcher devotes considerable space in his article to detailing (a) the erosion of white/Asian barriers and (b) white and Asian evident dislike of blacks. Is there any way out for blacks? Are blacks always going to be in a status separated from most others in the United States? In order to answer that question, let's go back to Fletcher's statistics of heavy outmarriage of other, non-black minority groups to whites. One may look at this outmarriage using the rationale that whites consider these persons more suitable marriage partners than blacks - or one may say that these non-black minorities are more desirous of intermarrying with whites than blacks are. These statements beg the following questions: (a) Why are non-blacks more suitable marriage partners for whites than are blacks? and (b) Why would non-black minorities be more desirous of marrying whites than blacks are? ______________________ Instead of black versus white it's black versus beige. ______________________ It is my opinion that in order to even ask, let alone answer, these questions, one must plough through dogma, ideology and emotional baggage existing with this whole idea of blackness and whiteness which necessarily skews any treatment of this simple statement: all those born here and/or who claim a US nationality are North Americans. It is my further contention that blacks are now trapped in a One Drop bifurcationist ideology which they may not have invented but which nevertheless makes them loyal to a "race" before a nationality - and which makes them quite comfortable with the idea of being permanent victims separated from other North Americans. On the other hand, Japanese Americans, heirs to a legacy of a 6,000 year old Asian culture, nevertheless easily slough that off to adapt to their new "Americanness" (soon-to-be "whiteness"). Latinos, proud bearers of pre-Columbian and African traditions, modify them - and marry whites. And the same type of thing goes for most other non-black minority groups. Clearly Fletcher has given African America something to think about. ______________________ All those born here and/or who claim a US nationality are North Americans. ______________________ In previous writings I have optimistically pointed to a future in which racial lines are blurred - while not exempting blacks from taking part in the show. In fact, Time magazine also anticipated this with a fall 1993 issue with a computer-generated woman on the cover which talked about the "New Face of America." The woman was 15% Anglo-Saxon, 17.5% Middle Eastern, 7.5% Asian, 35% Southern European, 7.5% Latino and 17.5% African. Blacks will join the rest of North Americans - but they will join them contingent on modifying their current strategies - strategies which have done much good in the past, but which must be changed as we go into the new millennium. This article was previously published in Interracial Voice Magazine. William Javier Nelson is of Dominican nationality. He has been an active academic for many years, currently specializing in reviewing new publications in comparative sociology. In recent years he has been an active contributor to Interracial Voice website. You can see some of his other writings at www.webcom.com/~intvoice . This website: Copyright © 2003 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.