Interracial marriages and children

First let’s define interracial marriage and children.

For me, the operative word is racial. After all, we all belong to the human race. So what are we really talking about?

One way to divide races is ethnographically. Using that metric, there are three main racial roots: Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negroid. Over the centuries, their cultural roots, the subterranean attributes that often follow racial groups, have also become distinct. This distinction in cultures and races is what makes an interracial marriage. And it doesn’t matter if the couple resides in the same country or in different countries.

This article deals with marriages between these races. So if a person of Germanic descent marries one from Poland, it would be an intraracial marriage because they are both (mostly, if not 100%) Caucasian. A good example of an interracial marriage would be a marriage between a person of Chinese and Russian descent, whose roots go back to Mongoloid and Caucasian ancestry. By the way, a bit of relevant historical fact. Marriage between blacks and whites (essentially people of the Negroid and Caucasian races) was illegal in the United States until 1967. The Supreme Court, in a visionary vision of American society, decided in Loving v. State of Virginia that the ban on marriage between blacks and whites was unconstitutional.

Today, 87% of Americans favor interracial marriage.

That is the positive side of interracial marriages. The challenge?

Here are a few.

1. In some cultures and races, marriage is not just between two people. Each individual actually marries the entire family of the couple. So you not only have to understand and adapt to an individual but also his family, which of course comes in all shapes, shapes and sizes. Not to mention attitudes, backgrounds and biases. While this may still exist in an intraracial marriage, the adjustment process can be daunting when dealing with a different race and culture.

2. Children: will they adopt one culture or two? Will they be confused? Will they prefer one over the other, disappointing their grandparents on the one hand?

3. Religion: If the two partners belong to different religions, it can create conflicts. Every faith has thousands of accumulated years of beliefs and practices and prejudices. Very often, although we say that we are all of one God, these beliefs and practices can be in conflict with each other.

4. Lifestyle: Certain lifestyle values ​​can be challenging for someone who is not used to it. For example, dating is common in some cultures and unacceptable in others. Gays and lesbians are not universally accepted.

So what are some of the best practices you can adopt to harmonize an interracial marriage? Here are some tips:

1. Respect the differences of others.

2. Be curious and learn with an open mind; you may find similarities that you can celebrate together.

3. Teach your children about different cultures, races, and practices. As they grow they will learn to respect and appreciate the values ​​of each of the racial groups and their belief systems.

4. Actively interact with other cultures and involve your family, especially the youth.

5. Don’t proselytize. Both culture and religion are based on ancestral values ​​and beliefs. As a wise man said: respect the differences, celebrate the common themes between yours and theirs and leave yourself alone!

In summary, acknowledge the fact that what makes a human race unique is that people of different religions and cultures can not only exist but thrive together.

Interracial marriage is one way to bridge these cultural divides.