Interracial Family Conflicts

Many only pay attention to the love between a couple when it comes to marriage, but other things should come to mind when thinking about a future husband or wife. When choosing a mate or spouse, race and religion should be considered because interracial couples can encounter prejudice environments and create family conflict.
Prejudice environments and actions are common towards interracial couples. A Caucasian writer, Amy Wise, recently wrote about her interracial relationship with her African American husband, Jamie Wise, and stated how their relationship still comes across as a shock after being married for 18 years. She says some use appalled expressions such as “Oh, you’re together?” (Jayson, 2011). Amy’s story is proof as to how not many are willingly open to interracial marriages, even after 18 years of it, in her case. People are shocked as to see a mixed couple together and do not consider it a norm of society. The Gale Cengage Learning Company said “Interracial couples report varying degrees of tolerance or hostility from their
Marrying outside of your race or religion can cause family conflict due to such things as interrupting the “purity” of family heritage (Root, 2006). The family can be upset if the member’s spouse is of another race or religion because they might not want to mix and complicate the heritage. Maria Root compares her findings with others and says “The NORC data and my own interviews indicate that people of all race sometimes fear contamination, though for different reasons. Whites may fear loss of privileged status for their children and grandchildren, while people of color may fear loss of cultural identity” (2006). The research shows the reasoning and background on what different races fear within interracial marriages and relationships. They do not want to lose certain aspects of their heritage due to choosing the wrong