Book review: Romano Renee Christine,Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in Post War America

Race Mixing: Black White Marriage in Post War America draws attention to the un-acceptance of interracial couples in the Western societies that claim a certain moral edge for being caste free. Marital unions of different kinds are opposed for different reasons. In India, for instance, inter-caste and inter-religious marriages become contentious and are often opposed by those under the spell of casteism, communal bigotry, and patriarchy. Christine's work informs us how inter-racial marriages become contentious in Western societies, particularly in America. Also, why most Whites disapprove marriage with Blacks, which the author has also proposed at the outset.

Beginning with explaining what taboo is, the author has focussed on the unintended consequences of the Second World War, the dangers of racing mixing, ambivalent acceptance, the rights revolution and inter-racial marriages. More interestingly, the author has devoted much time to talking Black and sleeping White and eventually raises the question of whether love or inter-racial marriage is a solution to resolve the racial discrimination in American society. Closer home, similar questions have been raised about about inter-caste and inter-religious marriages in Indian society for mixing of groups along the lines of religion and caste is seen as a threat to the dominant society. Those who promote religious or caste mixing are highly humiliated in everyday life. The marriages of mixed married couples (Muslim versus Hindu, higher caste versus lower castes) are markedly risky moves given the overarching discourse of love jihad and honour.

Christine is primarily invested in interrogating. inter-racial marriages in America after the Second World War. She is highlighting the critical condition and struggles of inter-racial couples in American society. Thirty-one of the 41 states of America declared Black-White inter-racial marriages illegal till 1940. In order to restrain the entry of lower-class commonly called Black people, many laws and procedures were introduced and implemented by the American states for prohibiting inter-racial marriages. In everyday encounters such couples were openly ostracized, stigmatized, fined and imprisoned. They were exposed to several other risks included denial of rights and safety net benefits. The effective implementation of laws discarded racial marriages and created powerlessness among interracial couples. As a result of only 0.126%, Black-White marriages were calculated in 1960, and the number went to 0.6% in 2000.

The American government maintained lower estimates through complete surveillance and by governing choices to love and marriage, which was a major threat to the fundamental right to privacy. Moreover, in post-1967, 16 American states have maintained the laws banning inter-racial marriages and declare Black-White marriages illegal on the spot. As per Christine, the primary reason for this had to do with the fact that regulating the inter-racial relationship was to once again, establish the early slave system with bonded labour. The American society considered the child's legal status on the mother's parameters of decent instead of the father. Therefore, matriarchy was gaining ground in that society. The colonial regulation prohibited White women and Black men's relationships; otherwise, children were bound out as servants until adulthood. The children of Black-White would not be considered the legitimate heirs of their White kin. The author focuses on the issues that sexual relationships could be long-standing, but the non-White partner would have none of the legal protections accorded to legitimate spouses. The state expended much more effort to prevent inter-racial marriages and interracial sex. The author tries to push out underlying realities and forces behind such rules; White women carry the burden to uphold 'White racial purity'. On the other hand, White men controls women's sexuality. The dominant racial faction could go on with its racist and patriarchal regulations by repeatedly Race Mixing: Black White Marriage in Post War America draws attention to the un-acceptance of interracial couples in the Western societies that claim a certain moral edge for being caste free. Marital unions of different kinds are opposed for different reasons. In India, for instance, inter-caste and inter-religious marriages become contentious and are often opposed by those under the spell of casteism, communal bigotry, and patriarchy. Christine's work informs us how inter-racial marriages become contentious in Western societies, particularly in America. Also, why most Whites disapprove marriage with Blacks, which the author has also proposed at the outset.

Beginning with explaining what taboo is, the author has focussed on the unintended consequences of the Second World War, the dangers of racing mixing, ambivalent acceptance, the rights revolution and inter-racial marriages. More interestingly, the author has devoted much time to talking Black and sleeping White and eventually raises the question of whether love or inter-racial marriage is a solution to resolve the racial discrimination in American society. Closer home, similar questions have been raised about about inter-caste and inter-religious marriages in Indian society for mixing of groups along the lines of religion and caste is seen as a threat to the dominant society. Those who promote religious or caste mixing are highly humiliated in everyday life. The marriages of mixed married couples (Muslim versus Hindu, higher caste versus lower castes) are markedly risky moves given the overarching discourse of love jihad and honour.

Christine is primarily invested in interrogating. inter-racial marriages in America after the Second World War. She is highlighting the critical condition and struggles of inter-racial couples in American society. Thirty-one of the 41 states of America declared Black-White inter-racial marriages illegal till 1940. In order to restrain the entry of lower-class commonly called Black people, many laws and procedures were introduced and implemented by the American states for prohibiting inter-racial marriages. In everyday encounters such couples were openly ostracized, stigmatized, fined and imprisoned. They were exposed to several other risks included denial of rights and safety net benefits. The effective implementation of laws discarded racial marriages and created powerlessness among interracial couples. As a result of only 0.126%, Black-White marriages were calculated in 1960, and the number went to 0.6% in 2000.

The American government maintained lower estimates through complete surveillance and by governing choices to love and marriage, which was a major threat to the fundamental right to privacy. Moreover, in post-1967, 16 American states have maintained the laws banning inter-racial marriages and declare Black-White marriages illegal on the spot. As per Christine, the primary reason for this had to do with the fact that regulating the inter-racial relationship was to once again, establish the early slave system with bonded labour. The American society considered the child's legal status on the mother's parameters of decent instead of the father. Therefore, matriarchy was gaining ground in that society. The colonial regulation prohibited White women and Black men's relationships; otherwise, children were bound out as servants until adulthood. The children of Black-White would not be considered the legitimate heirs of their White kin. The author focuses on the issues that sexual relationships could be long-standing, but the non-White partner would have none of the legal protections accorded to legitimate spouses. The state expended much more effort to prevent inter-racial marriages and interracial sex. The author tries to push out underlying realities and forces behind such rules; White women carry the burden to uphold 'White racial purity'. On the other hand, White men controls women's sexuality. The dominant racial faction could go on with its racist and patriarchal regulations by repeatedly referring to or defining inter-racial relationships as ones that disrupt the flow of social life, disturb its harmony and order. Inter-racial marriages were not only forbidden but also sometimes prohibited by laws and customs. She argues preventing mixed marriages between Black and White was a crucial way to maintain 'Whiteness' as a space of 'privilege' and 'purity'. To elaborate on and substantiate this important proposition, a nationwide political, cultural and social history of Black-White inter-racial marriage has been examined and covered since after 1940.

Race remains, as the title suggests, a dominant discourse throughout the text. Christine argues that 'race' is a social construction, and, contrary to general perception, not a biological reality; using terms like 'Black', 'White' and 'inter-racial' runs the risk of making racial categories appear more stable and concrete than they actually are. The reader is informed that, 'Black' means African ancestry (African American), 'White' means those defined by law and custom as 'White',. The Second World War created new spaces for inter-racial mingling, at least for the duration of the crisis. Just as modernization, westernization and education are the major actors of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages in India. In the end, the author focuses on the minor changes with reference to race mixing and discusses the range of success of inter-racial marriages in America and the problems and challenges these couples faced after the marriage. To support this argument empirically, the author used the statistical data and, contrary to general perception, to show an attitudinal change in inter-racial marriage. The first national poll (taken in 1958) recorded that 96% of Whites disapproved inter-racial marriages. However, the latest polls document showed a significant increase in White approval for inter-racial marriages, as 61% of Whites claimed to approve Black-White marriages in 1997. In the same vein, when the Blacks polled for the first time in 1972, 58% claimed to approve inter-racial marriages, while in 1997, 77% of Blacks approved inter-racial marriage. This attitudinal change is also visible in the social, economic and political arena in American society.

Though an excellent read, the books weakness is that the author has not mentioned or reflected on the constitutional provisions and laws meant to incorporate inter-racial couples in America's broader society. Like in India, we have various NGOs working for the betterment of the inter-caste and inter-religious couples, and for their wider acceptance. This has not been a case in the American society.