Breaking the last racial taboo

[Number23]

"Breaking the last racial taboo"

Snip:

There’s nothing more traditional in American politics than the wholesome family portrait: a beaming candidate, beaming spouse, reluctantly beaming teenagers.

But when Bill de Blasio, a candidate for public office in New York City this fall, put his family in his campaign mailings and TV ads, there was nothing routine about it. De Blasio’s wife of 15 years, Chirlane McCray, is black, his children are of mixed race and, even in one of America’s most liberal cities, no one could remember anything like it.

...With Barack Obama having rewritten the history of race relations in this country, de Blasio may be demolishing one of its last taboos, “For so long in American history, interracial couples went out of their way to keep their relationships out of the public eye that it’s remarkable to see them used in a campaign like this,” said Peggy Pascoe, a historian of interracial marriage at the University of Oregon, who referred to the campaign as “a post-Obama phenomenon.”

Good, bad or ambivalent? It's also my understanding that my GIRL, Susan Rice, US Ambassador, is also in an interracial marriage.

I think that there is a bit of a double standard here at times. Black man/white woman relationships a la Harold Ford's tend to be looked down upon. Black woman/white man relationships don't seem to have quite the same stigma. Or maybe people just really hate Harold Ford, I don't know.

[kwassa]

1. You beat me to it, I was going to post the same story.

The difference is also New York vs. Tennessee. I think the reason Ford really lost is because is a black candidate for a major office in the South.

I like this quote from him:
"We’re not in post-racial politics, but we’re in a politics of racial possibility. Our obligation is to keep pushing it, to keep trying all the permutations of it." - Bill de Blasio

[Number23]

2. NY vs TN is a good point, kwassa

But Phil Gramm represented Texas and it didn't seem to bother people all THAT much that his wife wasn't white. I can't help but think that when it's a white woman/non-white man involved, folks start to get a little shaky.

[kwassa]

7. but Asians are honorary whites, quite often.

The polarized history is not there the way it is between blacks and whites in the South.

I do agree with you the the black man/white woman combo is more controversial.

[jmm]

3. Black man/white woman relationships have a slightly different stigma than

black woman/white man relationships but there's enough stigma to go around.

[Raineyb]

4. I'm annoyed *I* didn't get a flyer and I live in Queens.

WTF? No one dropped them off in our neighborhood?

[Number23]

5. lol Go get 'em, Rainey! After reading this article, it seems like it's pretty much a done deal that

he will win his election.

[Raineyb]

9. Pretty much. Republicans aren't that popular. Except for the mayor.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there's a chance in hell of that bastard losing. *I* will be making sure I vote before I head for class on election day I can tell you.

[Brewman_Jax]

6. White males are still at the top

of the racial caste hierarchy. They generally don't lose their privileged status crossing the color line, unlike their female counterparts.

[Number23]

10. That's a great point, Brew

White males don't lose their position in the hierarchy ever. Period. Well, until women and minorities start getting too uppity as in, I don't know, becoming President and all. :)

I actually read a study about a year or so ago that noted that couples that involved a black man/white woman tend to have less education and be less affluent than black woman/white man combinations. They also tended to have more children. It was on Yahoo! and I'll see if I can find it.

So even though there's no doubt that white men still run the show and that this is a large reason why white man/non-white woman couples don't have the same social stigma as white woman/non-white man, there does seem to be some data to support that these couples do seem to be more stable and productive on the whole. I guess now, the next question is "why is that?"

Sidebar: In looking for the study I referenced, I came across the figure that only about 7% of marriages in America are interracial ones. You know what the vast majority of them are?? White man/Asian female. And yet, how come I don't hear 6025 jokes every day about how all "white men want an Asian woman" like I hear brothers supposedly want a white woman? What is wrong with this damn country?

Edit II: Wow, according to this data, 92% of all interracial marriages involve a white partner. http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:AUywVUjQyJcJ:new.oberlin.edu/dotAsset/695448.pdf+education+levels+interracial+couples&hl=en&gl=au&sig=AFQjCNF4cX_2j6_Ebp6-KKEW8V7xKhDiew (bottom of page 34) Why don't white people love one another??? :crazy: :rofl: :crazy:

[Number23]

11. Okay, last bit of research I'm doing on this

because of course I can't find the exact study I'm looking for but I'm finding all of this data that supports my initial statement such as:

"The harmonic mean analyses by Schoen & Wooldredge (1989) showed that with respect to education, white women marry up more often when marrying a black man than when marrying a white man; similarly, black men marry down more often when marrying a white woman than when marrying a black woman. Parallel conclusions were reached in the examination of the marriage choices of white men and black women; when marrying exogenously, white men marry down less often and black women marry up less often." Yujun Wang, Cornell University II. THE STATUS EXCHANGE PERSPECTIVE: THE EMPIRICAL CONTROVERSY

I'll keep looking to see if I can find the report that I was referring to. It wasn't that long ago that I saw it so I don't know why the heck I can't find it.

[XemaSab]

12. Says my gay friend:

"White males lose their status when they come out of the closet."

[Number23]

13. If only that were true. They may fall down in the pecking order

but there's no way that the privileges associated with the two characteristics at the very TIP TOP of this country's social caste system -- whiteness and maleness -- are completely eliminated.

[kwassa]

8. De Blasio was also Hillary's campaign manager for Senator in New York.

among the other interesting stuff in his bio.