Why is interracial marriage more common out West than it is out East?

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by MrDee12345

I can only speak for myself...

I lived in Hawaii (I guess that's 'out west) and saw a fair bit of interracial marriages.

But I'm in an interracial marriage myself and when we lived in Cambridge, MA, I saw lots of others in mixed marriages. However, when we moved to Queens, NY, I saw less of it, despite the fact that Queens is more diverse.

Cambridge is 55-60% white, no minority group above like 15% so many minorities date white people compared to the much larger and more pluralistic queens where you can always find your niche.

You date who is available to date.

But also Cambridge is a younger and more progressive place than Queens- that matters too.

[NearFantastica]

I found more recent data, from 2020. This map shows the multiracial share of the US population, which is a great indicator of where interracial dating/marriage is more common. Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii and Alaska lead the nation. The South has the lowest multiracial share. And as you can see, there's a huge divide between the western half and eastern half of the United States. It's literally a straight line from the Texas-Louisiana border to the North Dakota-Minnesota border.



https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/researc...face-of-the-us

[509]

Thanks for posting....I found this quote interesting.

"“It’s not what your ancestry is, it’s what you look like. That’s how discrimination happens,” said Nancy López, director of the Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice at the University of New Mexico. López said her group puts the word “race” in quotes to emphasize that race is a shifting concept based more on social norms than biology.

Nancy Lopez is wrong. Most discrimination is NOT based on what you look like. That is so yesterday.

Discrimination today is based on your name, your car and where you live. Most people NEVER see or know when they are discriminated against.

I and a couple of friends have beater cars that we drive. We also live in some very nice neighborhoods. I keep getting pulled over for "driving while poor". People are surprised when they find out where we live.

Because of my name I have had people show up at my house to "help" the poor people that live there!!! And of course, there are those that want nothing to do with me because of my name and I never meet.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Originally Posted by RudyOD

Overall, Filipinos and Mexicans have the strongest histories with each other. This is to that point that some Mexicans and some Filipinos already have ancestors from each other's countries (even if they don't realize it) due to the 250 year long Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade. In some Mexican states, like Guerrero, the population can have upwards of 30% Asian genetic components, of which is mostly of Filipino origins. Then you go into our history in California as mostly rural farm workers, our close knit activism, and the cultural similarities. Everyone at my work, whether Filipino or Mexican, has a family member that is married to one or the other. Perhaps, the White-Hispanic component is highest in crude numbers, but I suspect that the Filipino-Mexican intermarriages are rather high in proportion to their populations.

In Orange County, where I live, you also find Vietnamese-Mexican marriages to happen frequently. I have several friends who are the fruit of such marriages. My sister is an assistant for a Vietnamese doctor in Orange County, and she tells me that ALL of the doctor's sisters married Mexican men. Many of her Vietnamese friends, whether male or female, also choose to date exclusively with Latinos. I think this is all to the high exposure that both communities have with each other in central Orange County, with cities like Westminster and Garden Grove being heavily Vietnamese, and Santa Ana being heavily Mexican.

I've seen Hispanics that look Asian and Asians that look Hispanic.

Originally Posted by skidamarink

Ha, the South had more mixed race people even before the North did. Granted, they didn't acknowledge them but still...a good chunk of the "white" people in the southeast also have some black ancestry and you can see it in her faces or their hair texture. The majority of "black" people we see actually have some white ancestry too. I sometimes wonder if Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana has some black in her. Look at her nose and face shape.

Besides that, I just don't believe that hard-pressed stereotype of most white southerners being flaming racists. If anything, they are simply more open about it compared to elsewhere but I doubt it's worse in practice than the Midwest or anywhere.

Originally Posted by Howest2008

In the south almost all slaves were raped by theirs slave masters that would explain it ( the interracial
mixing ) as Interracial Marriage was Illegal in The South.

Sad but true. A lot of my black friends say that AAs look different than Africans.