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50 years ago 72% of Americans opposed the legalizing of interracial marriage

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F

flkraven

Member
The same year that the Supreme Court legalized it.

As far as interracial marriage is concerned, the "eternity" hoped for by the court in Georgia lasted for four generations. It came to a crashing halt everywhere in the U.S. 98 years later. In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court declared the anti-miscegenation laws that were still in place among 16 states to be unconstitutional. U.S. couples -- whether of the same or different races -- became eligible to marry in any state, as long as they consisted of one woman and one man. The Court reached this conclusion even though the vast majority (72%) of American adults were still opposed to legalizing interracial marriage at the time. Also a near majority (48%) favored criminal punishments for interracial couples who married.

Support and opposition to interracial marriage has changed dramatically over the five decades from 1967 to 2015:
•As noted above, In 1958, only 4% of U.S. adults favored allowing black-white interracial couples to marry. 12


•By 1967, when the High Court issued its ruling, the vast majority (72%) of American adults were still opposed to legalizing interracial marriage. Also a near majority (48%) favored criminal punishments for interracial couples who did marry. At that time, many conservative clergy still argued that when God created the world, he placed different races of humans in different areas of the world. Further, they believed that God intended that the races remain separated, and not intermarry.

•By mid-2013, polling data showed that about 87% of U.S. adults favor allowing interracial couples to marry. This included 96% of blacks and 84% of whites. The margin of error is ±2 percentage points. 13
Click to expand...

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_mar14.htm

The case that made it legal across the country:

The case was brought by Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "colored". The Supreme Court's unanimous decision determined that this prohibition was unconstitutional, overruling Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.
Click to expand...

Loving v. Virginia

And the original laws that made interracial marriage illegal:

Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States

These laws were starting to be repealed in various states starting in the late 40s, but interracial marriage was still illegal in 16 states when the 1967 ruling came down. As the laws were being repealed around the country, as few as 4% of people believed interracial marriage should be legal but states repealed those laws anyways, and the Supreme Court protected the people and the constitution. Despite it being unpopular, they did their duty.

I always bring this up when people talk about how politicians or the courts should do X, Y, or Z because it is popular or because the majority of the country want (or don't want) something. If we wanted people in government to just act based on popular opinion, we should just send robots up there. Instead, we are supposed to send people that are far smarter and more forward-thinking than the average person, that will (hopefully) do the right thing when it needs to be done, regardless of whether or not it is popular. With opinion polls, fake news, propaganda, and 24/7 election cycle, I feel this is something that is lost today. Fight for what is right, not what is popular.

I felt this would be an appropriate way to kick off Black History Month.
 
V

Violence Jack

Member
This really hits home for me and my wife. Having just moved from the South, there are still people down in certain parts who have a 1950s mindset when it comes to interracial couples, and treat mixed children like shit.

God bless the Lovings. When my child gets old enough, this will be one of the first things I will talk to them about.
 
M

Meowster

Member
It's sad to me that anyone could look down on any consenting relationship. Insane that this wasn't even a lifetime ago and there are probably (definitely) people alive that still feel that way.
 
G

Guevara

Member
bb8ic2qate-wa_cbgc2ifg.png


I was curious about polling today.

That stubborn 48%, all the way up to 1995!!!
 
F

Future

Member
Yeah this is an example when the the good guys win. It's why I will forever troll and berate progressives that avoiding voting to send a message when the supreme fucking Court was on the line. This is when democrats should have simply did their duty and fall in line to make sure they get a progressive Supreme Court. This shit is so much more important than Hillary or trump individually

But yeah, Americans typically are slow to accept social change like this. It's why you need leaders that can see the right path and force it out of principle. This happened multiple times in history, with slavery, women's rights, civil rights movement, gay marriage... and it needs to continue. Unfortunately, we are at a speed bump now out of our own fucking choosing which kills me
 
N

nelsonroyale

Member
This is at very relevant to the crisis in democracy we are currently experiencing. Many people are ignorant and maleable on a range of issues. They are used as a crutch to argue for regressive positions...when a lot of these people aren't defining these positions but mostly conforming to them. They may bitch about this and that now, but they will get used to it over a couple of generations...and hopefully their progeny will be thankful for it when a degree of insight comes.

The problem is, a lot of regressive opinions are considered socially acceptable because they are perpetuated in the gutter media - and I am extending that to areas of social media.
 
K

Kreed

Member
At that time, many conservative clergy still argued that when God created the world, he placed different races of humans in different areas of the world. Further, they believed that God intended that the races remain separated, and not intermarry.
Click to expand...

Wonder if this religious argument was ever brought up when black people were being brought over to the US on ships?
 
W

WiiredShawn

Member
The fact that it was the "Lovings" who made interracial marriage possible is proof that the universe sometimes has a good sense of humor.

It's also crazy just how quickly new generations get in line with social change. Thank goodness that some kids have an impulse to not be their parents.

Then again, I'm afraid this swings both ways, which is why I'm concerned about the future of the Supreme Court. Hopefully now that we've allowed certain freedoms, like gay and interracial marriage, it will be harder to roll back certain progress without invoking the wrath of the public.
 
V

VivaciousSoul

Member
It's not my business who you marry and I couldn't care less. Doesn't affect me in any way. That it was a law. I don't know what to say.
 
K

Karkador

Banned
"The people have spoken", "The other side is just mad because they lost the election", "Judicial Activism", "Legislating from the Bench", "We have laws in this country"
 
S

spindashing

Banned
I didn't even know what the word "miscegenation" even was until I saw it popping up on twitter where hordes of folks complained to Old Navy for having a interracial couple promote some clothes in a photo.

Really opens your eyes that this all wasn't so long ago. Bless interracial relationships, though.
 
E

Extollere

Sucks at poetry
darkistheway said:
I wonder, how many of those 72% are still alive and voting?
Click to expand...

Even if they aren't, their decedents are. Racial resentment and political opinions can get passed down easily. You can't beat these people with reason or argument either. You have to outvote them.
 
N

notaskwid

Member
That such a law existed in the first place is crazy to me.
A quick google search only netted two more examples, Apartheid and Nazi Germany.
 
A

Apathy

Member
Love is blind, as it should be. Marriage between two individuals, whether white or black, straight it gay shouldn't matter. Their live does not affect anyone but themselves and no one should be against it.

I would be interested in seeing polls (old and new if they exist) of interracial marriage other than white/black. Wonder if people are more or less or equally the same for other interracial marriages
 
P

parrotbeak

Member
Elitists in the federal government have been circumventing the will of the people for a long time.

Also that increase in interracial approval is right during the best period of hip hop.
 
P

PillarEN

Member
I'd love to see how many countries today look unfavorably at interracial marriage. Probably at least half. Especially those with a mostly homogeneous population.
 
M

mullet2000

Member
This really goes to show why just doing what the majority (over 50%) of a population wants can absolutely be the wrong thing.

Brexit and Trump were mistakes and them barely scooting by with 50% voter approval doesn't make it right.
 
J

Jotaka

Member
That's why the Justice System exists in the world.

To protect the minorities from abuses of majority (dictatorship of the majority).
 
S

Sotha_Sil

Member
I wonder what the prevailing thought on White-Asian couples would have been (my gf is Vietnamese). I imagine quite a bit higher, but still low by today's standards?

But back on topic, hard to believe things were like this as late as 1958. Still a long way to go, but damn. A lot changed in my parents' generation.
 
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