A recent Gallup poll on the topic of interracial dating, found that 83% of Americans are okay with it.

The poll results surprised me. This is a very positive sign. We are gradually moving toward a society that is race-less, or at any rate one in which race is no longer such a dominant feature.

The number of mixed unions in the US is around the 7% mark. So there is a disparity between the high approval rate and relatively low numbers of interracial couples who end up tying the knot. The trend is growing, although it’s been slow to develop. Hardly surprising when you consider the prejudice that was a virtual norm in the earlier part of the 20th century.

It was only in 1967 that the Supreme Court ruled that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional. Taking the laws off the books, didn’t change some of the died-in-the-wool attitudes. In 1992 a member of the Pat Buchanan campaign team was fired when he compared interracial marriages to the cross breeding of animals.

The demographic surveys make interesting reading and produce some unusual results. For example Asian American females are 2.5 times more likely to marry a white American than an Asian American male. In 2000 it was estimated that around 45% of Asian Pacific American women married white males.

African American males are 2.5 times more likely to be married to a white female, than African American females to a white male.

Intermarriage between American whites and Hispanics is high. A survey in 2000 found that almost one third of US born Hispanics are married to non-Hispanic whites.

The resistance to mixed marriage doesn’t doesn’t always come from declared racists. Surveys have found that African American females are frequently the most resistant to the idea, with a small minority even regarding intermarriage as “selling out the race”. This view is less common among Asian and Hispanic Americans.

Resistance to interracial marriage tends to be hidden. In responding to surveys most respondents are keen to appear progressive in their views and their answers may not be entirely representative of their true feelings. A number of the case studies of interracial couples revealed domestic tension behind the scenes, frequently related to the attitudes of in-laws. In one instance a white American father who had been supportive of his daughter’s decision to marry an African American man, became hostile and his attitude eventually contributed to the break-up of the marriage.

By contrast many of the couples reported their marriages were successful. Complaints mostly related to attitudes on the part of the public - but for the most part minor stuff such as rude stares or off-hand remarks.

We are gradually moving toward societies in which race will cease to matter as much as it has in the past. The interracial marriage trend will almost certainly increase over the next decade. It’s one of the best hopes for a future free of racism.