Should interracial marriages be allowed?

[angus]

I remember reading somewhere that some magazine did a survey and came to the conclusions that Natives and Norwegians are the best in bed. Luckily I live in an area with lots of both!

I'm just curious where you live.  My parents were born and raised in a small town way out in the sticks, called Ely, Minnesota, in St. Louis county north of Lake Superior, a few miles south of the canadian border.  I recall there were many natives and scandanavians around there.  And in fact, now that I think about it, one of my fathers eight brothers married a Chippewa woman, and her children are half breeds, just like my son.  Guess that's pretty common in my family.

[opebo]

PR is not a race.  Yeah, that's the good free black pussy I was talking about too.  (well, I actually I was referring to a Dominicana, or what the New Yorkers call Spanish n, but, and I don't mean to be insensitive, I do think those two island cultures are somewhat similar.)

Oh, ok, well that was a fantastic experience, but I always thought of her as a latina, not black.  I tend to think more in terms of language/culture than race, but I suppose she was about 1/2 african.  Anyway, it was only $40 (in the car!), met her through a telephone dating line.  When I called back a week later for another go, her boyfriend yelled at me!  That was the end of that.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not to mention Minneapolis has the highest per capita populations of both of any inner metro area in the country.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I remember reading somewhere that some magazine did a survey and came to the conclusions that Natives and Norwegians are the best in bed. Luckily I live in an area with lots of both!

I'm just curious where you live.  My parents were born and raised in a small town way out in the sticks, called Ely, Minnesota, in St. Louis county north of Lake Superior, a few miles south of the canadian border.  I recall there were many natives and scandanavians around there.  And in fact, now that I think about it, one of my fathers eight brothers married a Chippewa woman, and her children are half breeds, just like my son.  Guess that's pretty common in my family.

well I live in Mankato which is located in southern Minnesota which is mostly German except Mankato is pretty mixed since it's a college town, but I lived for 10 years on a Reservation which is where I had my "girlfriend".

[angus]

what an amusing story.  only time I spent in PR was about ten days in 2003 with my girlfriend (now wife).  I do recall a neighborhood in San Juan, more like a group of shabby hotels, with lots of interesting sex trade going on.  Good point you make about language/culture, further evidence of what we've been discussing all along, and a good segueway back to the topic at hand.

[minionofmidas]

Not to mention Minneapolis has the highest per capita populations of both of any inner metro area in the country.

That should be true for Norwegians...but I don't think it still holds for Native Americans.
City used to have an actual Ojibwa Ghetto back in the 50's and 60's as I recall - and that's where AIM was founded - , but I'm not sure if it still exists. Anyways I'll go look for some stats.

Red grew up on Standing Rock ND, where Sitting Bull is buried.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I've never heard of any such ghetto, but I do believe it has the highest percentage in the country, even though it's only around 3%.

Also the official name of the town I originally grew up on is Fort Yates, not Standing Rock, although it is where Sitting Bull is buried, I remember seeing his gravestone every time we drove out of town. I technically didn't even live in the actual town though, but a government district where almost all of the few whites lived (it was about 1/3 white), although that district also contained all the schools, businesses and actually has a higher population than the actual town (town's official population is about 200, total area is about 1000)

[minionofmidas]

Percentage Native American, by Metropolitan Area, according to Census 2000, listing all the places >2%:
Flagstaff (AZ) 27.2
Rapid City (SD) 8.1
Anchorage 7.3
Tulsa 6.9
Albuquerque 5.6
Fort Smith (AR) 5.1
Lawton (OK) 5.1
Yakima (WA) 4.5
Great Falls (MT) 4.2
Oklahoma City 4.2
Houma (LA) 3.9
Tucson 3.2
Billings (MT) 3.1
Bismarck (ND) 3.0
Pocatello (ID) 2.9
Bellingham (WA) 2.8
Redding (CA) 2.8
Santa Fe (NM) 2.8
Lawrence (KS) 2.6
Green Bay (WI) 2.3
Missoula (MT) 2.3
Phoenix 2.2
Enid (OK) 2.1
Duluth 2.0
Grand Forks (ND) 2.0

... by comparison: Minneapolis - Saint Paul 0.7 (Nation: 0.9. Within MetroAreas: 0.6) ...the city is likely higher of course. The Twin Cities area has just been growing rapidly, and few of the immigrants have been Native American. Same thing's true of the Portland and Seattle areas, also once well known for large Native populations.

The Reservation is called Standing Rock, though.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

yeah, you're right about the reservation name.

I was actually only talking about truly "major" cities, many of these metros aren't very big at all, hell Bismarck is where I lived after I moved off the Reservation. I was also talking only about the actual city of course, since the suburbs are as lily white as it gets.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Minneapolis-Minnesota.html

Minneapolis proper is 3.3% Ameircan Indian

Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Albuquerque probably do beat it then.

[minionofmidas]

Tucson and Phoenix might as well. (If the suburbs are whiter than the cities, which is not however a certaincy in these two cases - there's a reservation within MetroArea limits.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Minneapolis barely beats Tucson (which has 3.2%) and Phoenix which is below 3%.

Tulsa has above 7% though, OKC above 5% and Albquerque above 4%. It's probably Tulsa then.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I just remembered too that Ely is where Jessica Biel grew up. More proof we produce hotties!

[TeePee4Prez]

I personally wouldn't date a black woman

Why ever not?!

Just not attracted to them.  I could care less what my friends think.

[Ebowed]

Option 1...

[angus]

I don't know whether the sample size herein is large enough to make any trends, but it should probably be noted at some point that among Democrats the position is held that interracial marriages "should" be allowed by a 12:1 ratio.  Among republicans it is held by a 14:5 ratio, and among "I" posters it is held by 100% so far.

one hundred percent of unaffiliated voters!  but not one hundred percent of partisan participants.  as I said, it's a small sample--fewer than one hundred--and certainly unscientific (i.e., "straw") but it may be revealing somehow.

[Ebowed]

By the way, I should add that I don't believe in "race."  There's only one race: the human race.  Anything else is simply insignificant differences.

[AuH2O]

By the way, I should add that I don't believe in "race."  There's only one race: the human race.  Anything else is simply insignificant differences.

Then I don't believe in different breeds of dog. They are all identical except for some superficial differences, right? Pitbulls and collies, what's the difference...

[John Dibble]

By the way, I should add that I don't believe in "race."  There's only one race: the human race.  Anything else is simply insignificant differences.

Then I don't believe in different breeds of dog. They are all identical except for some superficial differences, right? Pitbulls and collies, what's the difference...

Considering the vast differences in breeds of dogs relative to the differences in the different races of humans, I think that's not a very good comparison.

[AuH2O]

By the way, I should add that I don't believe in "race."  There's only one race: the human race.  Anything else is simply insignificant differences.

Then I don't believe in different breeds of dog. They are all identical except for some superficial differences, right? Pitbulls and collies, what's the difference...

Considering the vast differences in breeds of dogs relative to the differences in the different races of humans, I think that's not a very good comparison.

You're right. The human races are actually much, much more different from each other than any breeds of dog are. The gap between a white and black person is genetically huge... it sounds small when you say ".01%," but when you consider how few genes are actually manifested, and how few determine key characteristics, the difference is very large for members of the same overall species.

Only the relative youth of the homo sapiens species prevents reproductive isolation.

[dazzleman]

By the way, I should add that I don't believe in "race."  There's only one race: the human race.  Anything else is simply insignificant differences.

Then I don't believe in different breeds of dog. They are all identical except for some superficial differences, right? Pitbulls and collies, what's the difference...

Considering the vast differences in breeds of dogs relative to the differences in the different races of humans, I think that's not a very good comparison.

You're right. The human races are actually much, much more different from each other than any breeds of dog are. The gap between a white and black person is genetically huge... it sounds small when you say ".01%," but when you consider how few genes are actually manifested, and how few determine key characteristics, the difference is very large for members of the same overall species.

Only the relative youth of the homo sapiens species prevents reproductive isolation.

I really don't think you're right, but you are entitled to your opinion like anybody else.

[Ebowed]

I used to think that some people who were against interracial marriage were good, but badly misguided people.  You changed my mind.  You're just racist.

For AuH2O... a conservative organization's view on race:
http://answersingenesis.org/creation/v25/i1/distinction.asp

[AuH2O]

LOL Ebowed, a "conservative" organization, hilarious. Please keep it up.

dazzle: do you want to discuss the science? I am more than prepared to do so. You might "think" one thing, but like Ebowed, and like a lot of people, you believe it because you've been told that by the media.

Anyone that knows basic genetics knows there is such a thing as race, period. And anyone so ignorant they have to cite some weirdo "Christian" website has no business making declarative scientific statements.

[A18]

Um, okay, race exists... I didn't realize anyone was disputing this. Who cares?

[angus]

actually, you'd be surprised how much misconception there is about this.  I think AuH2O has a better basic understanding of the mechanics than many posters.  Defensive maybe, and overly traditionalistic, for sure, but he seems to have the mechanics down.  Man, you know on some forms they actually list "African American" as a racial choice??!!  How f**cked up is that? 

As an afterthought, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I think Ebowed',s last post does have some merit.  We do use the word "race" to refer to species sometimes.  The phrase "human race" has worked its way into the lexicon.  and I think that behind it lies some noble sentiment.  I really don't know whether it's technically correct to say that white folk, africans, east asians, etc., form different "strains" of humans in the same sense that there are different strains, for example, of the species Clostridium botulinum, which is the etiological agent of botulism.  Obviously a single-celled organism can evolve much faster than a highly-advanced species such as a eukaryote, let alone a mammal, so we may not have the same degree of genetic differentiation that different strains of prokaryotic organisms have.  I'm really not sure about this, as I'm not a biologist and have only a passing interest in the life sciences, but it seems reasonable at the moment.  I think Ebowed might be suggesting that we need to "get over it" in the sense that while we can recognize the benefits of racism vis-a-vis diagnosing disease or identifying at-risk populations of subgroups of humans, we don't want to get so bogged down in the constant identification by race that we exclude from ourselves the possibility of love.  It's a cold enough world out there without going out of your way to add isolation.

[Beet]

Um, okay, race exists... I didn't realize anyone was disputing this. Who cares?

Race as far as its relevance is concerned exists as a social construct. I'm not saying it should be discarded, though it is important to recognize that the boundaries of races, such as "white" have changed over time, and neither past nor present definitions are necessarily inherently more relevant for actual purposes. The construct is generally based on various complex societal factors, but no specific definition of race is necessarily superior to another, and it is certainly possible to consider humanity as one single race.