VOLUME 91 - NUMBER 11 DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2012 TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30
Interracial marriages in US hit new high: 1 in 12
By Hope Yen
I WASHINGTON (AP) - The
• number of interracial marriages
.in the U.S. has climbed to 4.8
million, a record 1 in 12 couples,
as a steady flow of Asian and
Hispanic immigrants expands
the pool of prospective spouses.
Blacks also are now substantially
Lore likely than before to marry
^whites.
A Pew Research Center study,
released Feb. 16, details a diver
sifying America where interra
cial unions and the mixed-race
'children they produce are chal
lenging typical notions of race.
“The rise in interracial mar
riage indicates that race relations
[have improved over the past
quarter century,” said Daniel Li-
chter, a sociology professor at
Cornell University. “Mixed-race
children have blurred America’s
color line. They often interact
with others on either side of the
racial divide and frequently serve
as brokers between friends and
family members of different ra
cial backgrounds,” he said. “But
[America still has a long way to
go.”
■ The figures come from previ-
ous censuses as well as the 2008-
2010 American Community
Survey, which surveys 3 million
Households annually. The figures
I for “white” refer to those whites
who are not of Hispanic ethnic-.
! ity. For purposes of defining in
terracial marriages, Hispanic is
counted as a race by many in the
demographic field.
The study finds that 8.4 per
cent of all current U.S. marriages
are interracial, up from 3.2 per
cent in 1980. While Hispanics
and Asians remained the most
likely, as in previous decades,
to marry someone of a different
race, the biggest jump in share
■since 2008 occurred among
blacks, who historically have
I .been the most segregated.
■ States in the West, where
Asian and Hispanic immigrants
I are more numerous, including
Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico
|and California, were among the
most likely to have couples who
"‘marry out” - more than 1 in 5.
The West was followed by the
South, Northeast and Midwest.
By state, mostly white Vermont
had the lowest rate of intermar-
.Tiage, at 4 percent.
• In all, more than 15 percent
of new marriages in 2010 were
‘interracial.
A float with figures depicting French soccer player Zinedine Zidane and U.S. President Barack Obama pa
rades during the 128th edition of the Nice Carnival, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012, in Nice, southern France. This
year the carnival is celebrating the theme “King of Sport.” (AP Photo/ Lionel Cironneau)
I The numbers also coincide
vith Pew survey data show-
ng greater public acceptance of
nixed marriage, coming nearly
ialf a century after the Supreme
-ourt in 1967 barred race-based
estrictions on marriage. (The
45th anniversary of the decision
will be June 12. In 2000, Ala
bama became the last state to lift
its unenforceable ban on interra
cial marriages.) About 83 percent
of Americans say it is “all right
for blacks and whites to date
each other,” up from 48 percent
in 1987. As a whole, about 63
percent of those surveyed say it
■‘would be fine” if a family mem
ber were to marry outside their
face.
Minorities, young adults, the
। higher educated and those living
■ in Western or Northeastern states
were more likely to say mixed
I Carriages are a change for the
better for society. The figure was
bl percent for 18- to 29-year-
°lds, for instance, compared to
28 percent for those 65 and older.
Due to increasing numbers of
interracial marriages, multiracial
Americans are a small but fast-
growing demographic group,
comprising about 9 million, or 8
Percent of the minority popula-
lion. Together with blacks, His-
P a nics and Asians, the Census
■ Bureau estimates they
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‘Loving Story’ shows unlikely civil rights heroes
By Jesse Washington
(AP) - Richard Loving looks out from the Jim Crow past with wary eyes, appearing on the screen with a blond crew cut, plaid work shirt,
bad teeth and Southern accent.
“He looked like a redneck,” said Philip Hirschkop, a lawyer who soon recognized his mistake - Loving was actually a pioneer for racial
equality.
The white bricklayer from Virginia defied stereotypes and centuries of racist laws, when he married Mildred Jeter, who was black and
Native American. Convicted of violating a law against interracial marriage, the Lovings fought for their rights and won a landmark 1967
Supreme Court case that struck down such bans nationwide.
Their lives are explored in a new documentary, “The Loving Story,” which premiered on HBO.
Today, there are more than 4 million “mixed marriages” in the United States, and roughly one in seven new marriages are between people
of different ethnicities. But in 1958, when the Lovings’ marriage was ruled illegal and they were banished from their native Virginia, 21 states
outlawed interracial unions.
“The Loving Story” details the couple’s nine-year battle to live in Virginia as man and wife. Using evocative photographs, newly unearthed
footage and interviews with the Lovings’ daughter and lawyers, the film reveals the power of love to overcome bigotry.
“I came to respect Mildred and Richard so much,” said the film’s director and producer, Peggy Buirski. “I think these people had such high
standards and strong principles and in many ways they defied stereotypes.”
“You don’t have to be an activist to change history,” Buirski said. “Youjust have to believe strongly in something.”
Richard and Mildred grew up near each other in rural Virginia. They courted for a few years before getting married in Washington, D.C.,
on June 2, 1958, then returned home to live near their families.
, On July 14, the sheriff broke into the Lovings’ bedroom in the middle of the night and took them to jail. Judge Leon Bazile sentenced the
Lovings to five years in prison, but suspended the sentence as long as they left the state. And Bazile made a statement that demonstrates the
immense distance society has traveled since 1958, a statement that is narrated at the start ofthe film:
“Almighty God created the races: white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents, and but for the interfer
ence with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages,” Bazile said in court. “The fact that He separated the races shows that
he did not intend for the races to mate.”
But “The Loving Story” makes clear that Mildred and Richard Loving were meant for each other.
Numerous still photographs, taken for Life magazine by Grey Villet, capture the intimate glances and gestures shared by soul mates.
Archival film depicts mundane moments of daily life - a sock smoothed over a foot; a log tossed into the stove - that become pregnant with
meaning when a family is under attack.
Mildred, who died in 2008, does most of the talking, her gentle voice describing the ordeal she endured with her husband and three chil
dren. Richard, who was killed by a drunken driver in 1975, says little beyond, “I’m not gon’ divorce her.”
The Lovings moved to Washington to be together, but Mildred was not suited for city life. A friend told her to write to the U.S. attorney
general, Robert F. Kennedy, who advised her to contact the American Civil Liberties Union.
Hirschkop and Bernard Cohen were the ACLU lawyers who took the case to the Supreme Court. Their opponents argued that interracial
marriages - and the children they produced - were much more likely to have difficulties. They compared Virginia’s law banning such mar
riages to those prohibiting polygamy or incest.
In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in the Lovings’ favor.
Buirski noted that even though most Americans now say they have no problems with interracial marriage, pockets of resistance have
remained.
Laws prohibiting interracial marriage stayed on the books in South Carolina and Alabama until 1998 and 2000, respectively. In 2009, a
Louisiana justice of the peace refused to marry a black man and a white woman. “I’m not a racist,” said the official, Keith Bardwell. “I just
don’t believe in mixing the races that way.”
In a 2011 Gallup poll, 84 percent of whites and 96 percent of blacks said they approved of interracial marriage.
“It’s not something we can take for granted,” Buirski said.
“Racial identity is an important conversation to have in our culture, and I think the more we bring it to the forefront of our conversation,
the better it is for everybody. That’s one reason I don’t see this story as history. I see this as living history.”
6 of 10 on
ethics panel
quit Waters
case
By Larry Margasak
WASHINGTON (AP) - All
five Republicans on the House
ethics committee and the panel’s
ranking Democrat withdrew
from a long-standing investiga
tion of Democratic Rep. Maxine
Waters of California on Feb. 17
to avoid further questions about
their impartiality.
The extraordinary develop
ment came more than two years
after the panel began examin
ing whether Waters tried to steer
money from the 2008 financial
bailout to a minority-owned
bank while her husband was a
shareholder and board member
ofthe institution.
The mass recusal came in one
ofthe committee’s most troubled
cases, after past allegations of
bias by Republican members
forced the panel to hire an out
side lawyer last July to investi
gate the committee and its han
dling ofthe Waters case.
The committee’s Republican
chairman, Rep. Jo Bonner of
Alabama, said the outside attor
ney, Billy Martin, requested the
recusals. But Bonner said the
recusals “are not based on any
indication of any wrongdoing or
inappropriate partisanship by the
members.”
Waters, a high-ranking mem
ber of the Financial Services
Committee, was accused by the
panel of trying to use her influ
ence to obtain federal aid for a
minority-owned bank where her
husband is an investor.
During an investigation that
has gone on for more than two
years, Waters, one ofthe longest-
serving African-American law
makers, has consistently denied
wrongdoing, saying her efforts
were focused on helping a num
ber of minority-owned banks
that were in financial trouble.
In addition to the five Re
publicans on the committee, its
senior Democrat, Rep. Linda
Sanchez of California, also with
drew from the case - even though
she was not a committee mem
ber when the allegations of bias
surfaced. In fact, all five of the
Democrats on the committee in
2010 quit the panel when Con
gress convened in January last
year, saying new members were
needed to take a fresh look at the
Waters case. However, all five
Republicans decided to stay on.
The five Republicans step
ping down were Bonner and
Reps. Michael McCaul ofTexas,
K. Michael Conaway of Texas,
Charles Dent of Pennsylvania
and Gregg Harper of Mississip
pi. Replacements have already
been named to allow the Waters
case to continue.
The chairman said Martin ad
vised the committee that, to date:
-He has not discovered any
evidence to indicate bias or par
tiality in the investigation.
-He has not discovered evi
dence that should cause a man
datory removal of anyone from
the case.
-There is no conflict that
would require disqualification of
any current member or staff of
the committee.
The six members, Bonner
said, “believe that, out of an
abundance of caution and to
avoid even an appearance of un
fairness, their voluntary recusal
will eliminate the possibility of
questions being raised as to the
partiality or bias of committee
members considering this
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