Email Marketing by iContact

Sex, Race and Marriage: More Interracial Couples

gender, race, marriage

Interesting cultural findings in USA Today article on growing number of interracial couples and marriages:

  • Tolerance: 43% agree that “more people of different races marrying each other has been a change for the better in our society.” 44% say it made no difference; 11% say it’s been a change for the worse.
  • Regional differences: 35% of all newlyweds who married outside their race live in the West. Other states with 20% or more are all west of the Mississippi.
  • Gender/Race: Among Blacks, 24% of newlywed men married outside their race, vs. 9% of women. Among Asians, the opposite is true: 36% of women married outside their race, vs. 17% of men.




Jeremy Lin: Good for Asians, Good for All Americans

Jeremy Lin's meteoric stardom and positive attitude towards the game and his team not only are great for basketball, a major stereotype-buster (e.g. academic nerd, foreigner, can't speak English), and an inspiration to many Asian Americans, but also a wonderful role model for ALL of us, regardless of race/ethnicity.

However long the Cinderella story lasts on the courts is less important than how Lin has reminded me--and demonstrated in a mere week--what it is to be American and one exciting example of the hope, pursuit and the realization of the American Dream!

------

Lin's story has become especially appealing to Asian basketball players, who say his success is an inspiration. "Jeremy is my size and from America. We can identify with him."

"He speaks like us. He's heard all of the same stereotypes we've heard," said Darren Liu, 25, a 25-year-old Asian-Canadian from Ontario, a former high school basketball player. "To see a guy go through all those things, to get cut by teams, it's something we can look up to and be proud of."

Full USA Today article on Jeremy Lin

2010 Article on Anti-Asian Remarks, Racism and Lin





Multicultural Adoptions, Identity and Race

Article on findings that adoptions in America are increasingly cross-racial, creating multicultural families and points to potential issues regarding identity development, racial dynamics and the importance of cultural awareness.

——-

Excerpt:

“Colorblindness actually creates discordance,” Samuels says, because parents set their children up to believe that race doesn’t matter — until the children find that often race is an issue in the real world and they aren’t prepared for it.

Her study of multiracial adoptees, “Being Raised by White People: Navigating Racial Difference Among Multiracial Adopted Adults,” was published in 2009 in the Journal of Family and Marriage. She found that “colorblind” parenting might actually be more harmful than helpful to children.

Adapting and understanding of equality doesn’t require sameness, so for family members to be able to relate to one another, we don’t have to be the same,” says Samuels, who is part black; her adoptive mother was white. “We can be racially different and we can see the world and experience the world differently.”


Related posts:

Tiger Mother Reaction by Natalie Keng

11 Alive News, Natalie Keng re: Amy Chua’s Tiger Mother book

Defining the Hyphen, My Tigger Mom