People for Interracial Marriage

Yes, I would marry someone of a different race. I am the product of an interracial marriage. I firmly believe love conquers all and if I find someone to spend my life with and that person is of a different race, so what? My parents came together and I am proof that if you believe in your relationship, race should not be a deciding factor.

—Ricardo Antonio Canales

I am a Filipina who grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood. Although I grew up in a Filipino household, many of my influences were school and friends. I am getting married in October to a Caucasian male with whom I very much relate ... in values and culture. 

—Hazel Resurreccion

Yes, I'd marry someone of another race. We're all human; [we] bleed the same, laugh the same and cry the same. Finding someone to share your life is luck of the draw ... you have to follow your heart and keep your heart in it to make it work, no matter what race you are.

—Rhonda Dorsey-Prude

There is only one race of people on earth: We are all members of the human race. Any other perception can only keep us divided. Consider your beliefs and behavior: Will they help to end racism? Think of your own daily actions: Are they helping tear down the artificial color boundaries between people, or do your actions help institutionalize racism?

—Daniel Rioux

I am the product of an interracial marriage between a Japanese woman and a white man. The only time my ethnicity played any major role in my youth was during a U.S. history class when we had to discuss World War II. The class was split in half for those who supported U.S. decisions and those who supported Japan's decisions. I could not be a part of either side, not because I was not accepted by either side, but because I had my own internal conflicts about what had transpired before I was even born. I am now an adult. I married a "white" man who also has some Native American in him. I now have a son who is 1/4 Japanese, and oddly enough looks like he's at least 1/2. There have been no racially charged issues directed toward myself, my husband or my son. The world is changing, the color of skin is changing, and with that, acceptance of differences should follow.

—Sue Cornell

We all have differences and it doesn't matter what ethnic group we belong to, African, European, Asian, etc., and we deal with those differences in all of the relationships we have. Being married to someone of a different ethnic background has not only allowed [me] to learn more about myself in addition to learning about my wife in a more intimate and fulfilling way. Yes, there are issues related to an interracial marriage, but then those same issues exist in any marriage. I know there are still those who are caught up in the 16th-century mode of thinking that skin color denotes a difference in race, but I myself have and never will be bound by those antiquated modes of thinking and I will encourage my children to have open minds and hearts so that they may not miss out on the best experience of their life.

—Lewis Jones

I am native to the San Francisco Bay Area and dated women of different races many times before marriage at the age of 36. After a young experience with an African- American girlfriend (who was bothered by the reactions of others), no other negative racial/cultural situations emerged in my relationships. As is common where I come from, interracial relationships are nearly the norm, especially among professionals. (Almost all of my close friends married outside of our "race.") I ended up marrying within my race (although she was not of my country), but that was by chance ... my mind didn't choose "the one," my heart did. Discriminating romantically on the basis of race is simply ridiculous, in my view.

—Eugene M.

I am a white woman married to a black man for seven years. I was raised in a family where this was never spoken against. I was taught that all people are equal, but there are idiots of every race. I was warned that life would be harder with a black man than it would be with a white man, and this has proved true. I am discriminated against, have lost jobs due to it, have been declined housing because of it. Life may have been easier with a white man, but I would not be happier with a white man. My husband and I have so much in common, race is not an issue in our relationship. We grew up in the same area, are close to the same age, our parents are in the same economic class, we have common interests. Those are the things that make a happy marriage, not race. Two white mates could clash culturally if they had nothing in common. Whether you can be in an interracial relationship depends on whether you're willing to take on the world! And we firmly believe that biracial children inherit the best of both races. They are so beautiful and intelligent!

—Susan S.

Let's face it, folks. We are all products of interracial relationships from thousands of years in the past, and there is no true race of any kind. The people that we are today are different from those of 20, 30 or even 50 years ago, who were quite different from those of 100, 200, 500 or more years ago. Just as there are mutations in the lower animal and plant kingdoms, so goes it with this higher level animal kingdom ... MANKIND! Why do we think we are the only group of life that does not also change over time?

—Williette Williams

People Against Interracial Marriage

I think that the cultural differences would be the biggest factor for me. I don't have a problem with interracial dating or marriage, but for me personally, I think I wouldn't be able to be myself in a lot of situations. I think when you marry interracially, you may find that you have to be pretentious in a lot of situations--especially family situations. My hats off to those who are happy and have overcome all of the prejudices it involves.

—Adrienne Wilder