I do not understand what is meant by "interracial marriage" as most people are of mixed heritage already, but I do think that whatever we mean by interracial marriage, its effects are far better than we think.

First I would like to tackle the meaning of "interracial" before I proceed further, as this is a very important topic. While there are some marriages in which more Caucasian-looking people marry those of more purely black or Asian ancestry, for the most part, African Americans in the United States are already mixed to some extent. I do agree though, that the Asian admixture is less diluted, as Asians have not intermarried or intermingled as much as other races. But that is changing now as well. I see many more mixed marriages than I did in the past, and that is actually a good thing.

Despite the positive aspects, I think we need to be very careful when pigeonholing people. For instance, there is a difference between what you would call Hispanics. I would not say that all Hispanics are of non-Caucasian heritage, and if you make a mistake and pigeonhole them, you will definitely learn to think twice before speaking. For instance, some people from Hispanic cultures are mostly Native-American, while some are of European descent. The same goes for any culture. Be careful how you "box" any race or culture, because I personally do not believe that there is any pure race per se. Perhaps the only cultures I can think of that are less mixed would be the Northern Scandinavians and some Asian groups like the Japanese, who frown down on mixed marriages.

The benefits of mixed marriages is that the children will be healthier. I have heard from someone who is a doctor and has "mixed children" that the gene pool is improved whenever two different types of people or races (however subjective this may be) are combined. This is why purebred dogs often suffer from horrible genetic diseases. Another example would be Tay Sachs disease, common among people of Jewish descent. According to a website I just read, it is called a "Jewish Genetic Disease." Other diseases common to certain "races" could be eradicated by intermixing, for example, Sickle-Cell Anemia, which is common among African Americans.

Other benefits of mixed marriages would be that the child would learn more tolerance and respect towards all races. Such children may be open to new ideas, and less hostile regarding one's religious creed or nationality. Many wars are fought over both religion and patriotic fanaticism, and a child of mixed background is not going to really purely identify with either one of the other racial background, thus, the child is less susceptible to being nationalistic to a fanatical degree.

Learn more about this author, Wendy Koenigsmann.
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