The article Interracial Families in Post-Civil Rights America by Kerry Ann Rockquemore and Loren Henderson explores the topics of why interracial families continue to be so uncommon in the United States, and it describes the hardships interracial families face dealing with individual and institutional racism, responding to the dissatisfaction of family members, and raising mixed-race children. Rockquemore and Henderson explain that even though laws that were prohibiting interracial marriages have been abolished for some time now, the percentage of interracial marriages in the United States is still in the single digits. Less than one percent of marriages were interracial in 1970, and in 2005 that number had increased to 7.5 percent of all marriages (Rockquemore and Henderson 99). Although these numbers have increased, the fact that interracial marriages are staying in the single digits combines with the fact that marriages between whites and blacks are the least likely, the authors suggest that colorblind rhetoric may still be ahead of reality. An …show more content…
Benokraitis, it has four reasons that may explain intermarriage variations. The first being proximity. We tend to date and marry people we see on a regular basis. Next is socioeconomic status as interracial marriages can improve one’s social standing. The third is availability of potential spouses. People often marry outside their racial-ethnic groups because of a scarcity of eligible mates within their own group. Finally, a fourth reason for interracial marriages is acculturation. Many families have been in the country for four or five generations, have acculturated, have a small pool of eligible mates, and are generally more accepting of interracial marriages (Benokraitis 109-110). These are just a few potential reasons as to why interracial marriages may happen, and as time goes on the percent of these marriages will likely