The Stigma Behind Interracial Couples

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April 11, 2022
The stigma behind Interracial Couples
The world has gone a long way in terms of equality. We have fought long and hard toward our dream of true equality, especially regarding the political and civil liberties that we should be enjoying. However, despite the efforts and sacrifices that our predecessors have made toward the promise of equal treatment, reality shows that we are still far from true equality. Despite the legislation and laws that were implemented to protect our rights, racism still subtly exists within people’s subconscious, whether or not they are aware of it. In line with this, this article will focus on the implicit bias or stigma against interracial couples. To discuss this, I would like to briefly introduce the history of interracial couples in the United States and then shift towards understanding how these biases still exist today. All in all, I believe that addressing issues of bias and prejudice would require a deeper understanding of the causes of prejudice and a grassroots approach.
History of Interracial Couples
Interracial couples in the United States were relatively new. Before the 1960s, interracial relationships in the United States were forbidden entirely, which meant that relationships between individuals from different races must be hidden and were even punishable under the law CITATION Liv17 \l 1033 (Livingston & Brown, 2017). However, because of the United States Supreme Court ruling in the case of Loving v. Virginia, interracial relationships became allowed and legitimated under the law. This led to a consistent (and even sudden) increase in interracial marriages from 1967 up to the present CITATION Liv17 \l 1033 (Livingston & Brown, 2017). In a recent census conducted in the country, it was shown that about 10% of the whole population of married couples are made up of interracial marriages. Accordingly, the same research shows that African-Americans are more likely to marry (n=18%) someone from different races as compared to Caucasians (4% to 11%) CITATION Dra22 \l 1033 (Drah, 2022).
However, despite these promising numbers, there is still a lingering stigma about interracial couples. Some news reports state that these couples still face “n...