Did you all know that interracial marriage was illegal until 1967?

Most of the black men who were victims of lynchings were men accused of having sex with a white woman. Many times it was percieved as rape even if it was consentual. Why were people so fearful of interracial sex? So fearful- that they resorted to such brutal measures.
It was OK for white men to have secret sexual relationships with slave women, but the idea of a black man and white women was just inconceivable.

Do you all think interracial sex- miscegination- is feared today? How does society view people involved in an interracial relationship?

One explanation that I have always heard was that black people were feared because they looked different from the "white" man, so the "white" had to get control of the black man so he would not hurt anyone. I am not a Bible scholar or anything. But I have heard some people say that in the Bible when Cain kills Abel and God curses Cain and puts a mark on him this the mark. That Cain was marked black, thus black people are of the devil. I do not know what the mark was myself, but even if was black skin, the Bible teaches to also love one another and all are equal in the eyes of God. I would also image that if a person had not been around a different "race" then they would not be confortable with them, so you would not want to marry them and they would not know what would happen if you had children with them. One of my nieces is pregnant right now and the father is black. They are not getting married, but not because of interracial differences. This baby will be a part of my niece and a part of me, so I will not love this baby any different. I may love her more and try to protect her against people that try to hurt her .

Though I have never heard that the mark of Cain can be interpreted as having a different color skin, I will entertain that thought for now, for the sake of making my point. Giving the mark to Cain was not a punishment from God; it was to correct the wrongdoing in humanity. God could have killed him, struck him down on the spot. Or God could have had Cain killed by another. Instead, God is not vengeful, God wanted to make a point that he did not want killing. Cain was then banished to Nod, to live, and have offspring. Cain is now responsible for populating the earth. Also, this mark was unique to Cain only, and to say that he was given a skin change and to likewise say he could pass it to his offspring, then there are marks of Cain everywhere, and people will be punished sevenfold by killing anyone with a dark skin tone. Furthermore, if this is true, when does the mark stop, who is to say when someone no longer has the mark, “they are not dark enough.â€

I don't know if I'm right, but didn't most lynchings occur in the south? There was always a hatred and fear of black people in this region of the country. Also, this is considered the Bible Belt and many people claim the Bible says that races shouldn't mix.

I think people still dislike interrcace mixing, but it isn't as bad as say... 40 yrs. ago.

I feel that their is nothing wrong with interracial marriage. However, I'm not sure I would ever put this extra stress on my children that would come from this. If i felt I could deal with it along with my child's problems he would face, then okay. According to "religious" people, it is not right. Okay, according to others, nothing is wrong with it. What is the difference in a Caucasian person marrying an African-American... and a Caucasian person marrying a Russian, etc etc.. ."white people". NOTHING !! So be it that in the south many people STILL have a thing against "black" people, so they don't want them in their family. That is just incredibly ridiculous racism, and I'm not sure how they read the same Bible I do and be a Christian and believe they are superior over African Americans. Believe what you wanna believe, just look to the right things/people for your answers.

Amen. It is not justified fear, nor justified theology. Nowhere does the bible say that races are not to mix, and we need to be aware of children in our classrooms that believe this. I am not saying that we need to press our beliefs on our students, but there is no way we need to foster hate and bigotry in our youth to keep this trend on the march. As educators, we need to do that: educate. We are responsible for pointing our children in the right direction.

Being that interracial marriage was illegal until 1967, that was during our parents generation. What they believed then, and most likely do now, they are going to pass down to us. If they believed that interracial marriage was wrong, then they are more than likely going to tell us that. Whether we believe that or not is up to us because we live in a new generation and a new time. Things have changed, though not as much as we would like, especially here in the South. Many people were against interracial marriage then and still are now. I don't think it really matters if the two are in love, but they need to understand that people will talk. It's sad, but it's true.

Growing up in a fairly rural, not too large town in the South...I always heard that races shouldn't marry. It was typically placed on Biblical reasons. It is, however, probably more cultural as it is something that is passed down from generation to generation. I didn't really change my opinion about it until later on in high school, when I was grown up enough to make decisions for myself. I don't have a problem with interracial couples now. I think that the biggest confusion on the Bible issue is that, and I'm not even going to try and quote it, is that it talks about mixing with people not of your own group...but the way I have heard that explained is that it means don't mix with someone who will take you away from God. It has just become misconstrued to mean races. Of course, I'm sure those people would think that my way is misconstruing it. But anyways...it all comes down to people's translations, which may be in party largely enforced by cultural and societal values passed down through the generations. I don't think that interracial marriage is so much feared now, as it is frowned upon for the fact that it would cause a loss of "whiteness," I guess. Its crazy, but that's just what it seems like to me.

I'm glad interracial relationships and marriage have become much more accepted, but I still think we have a long way to go. I have a family that would probably still snub their noses if I had a girlfriend of another race. That's just crazy man! In my opinion there is absolutely no reason that two people of different race shouldn't be together based on their color. There's alot of fine women of color out there

I think that it isn't as taboo as it used to be. I feel that the fear now is raising a child in that type of relationship. I don't think it is fear from other children but fear from other parents

The way things are today, I don't have a problem with it....though its not something i have partaken in I would be lying if I were to say the I have never been attracted to a black girl.....but I really can't say anything about the way it was back then because I wasn't there.....but even today I think black man-white woman relationships are scrutinized, in my opinion, much more than white man-black woman relationships..

I agree, I do feel society looks on black men marrying white women more harshly than a white man with a black woman. Why I don't know.

As a child I was taught that inter-racial marriages were wrong. I believed this misconception for years until as a young adult, I researched the scriptures for myself. No where in the Bible(that I can find) is inter-racial marriages forbidden. The Bible refers only to being "unequally yoked" which to me is in regards to beliefs rather than race.

Vickie Flanagan

A lot of people mentioned that racial marriages are considered bad on the basis of religion. I certainly believe that interracial marriage is greatly discriminated against in the south. Even though my whole life I have known this, I have never thought that it was because of the Bible. I have seen it based mainly on social issues. White people may not even consider thamselves better than blacks, they just don't want to mix races. The same goes for African-Americans. Socially, interracial relationships are looked down on. People in the rural south truly seem to live in a time warp and have yet to catch up with the rest of the country.