Interracial+Marriage

= **INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE** =

**Why is it still taboo?**
__**Why is this important to us?**__ Imagine if your government told you that you couldn't marry the person you love most. This has happened on multiple occasions to interracial couples throughout the years. By banning marriage between individuals of different races, the state denies people a basic civil right. Whites are not the only ones who oppose interracial marriage, though; during the Civil Rights Movement, many Black leaders were criticized by their followers for having White spouses.

This issue is dividing Americans in a traditional sense: liberal versus conservative. Yet this is not an issue that should not divide our people as it deals with personal life. If an issue does not directly affect us, why should we get involved? What gives people the right to meddle in people's private lives?

__**Why does interracial marriage face such strong opposition?**__ There are individuals who believe in maintaining "racial purity" and therefore fiercely oppose interracial marriage. There are also issues with white supremacists who believe whites should not marry those of inferior races, especially African Americans.

__**How does this relate to the Constitution?**__ Interracial marriage can be tied to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution as well as the Equal Protection Clause. These clauses demand that states must acknowledge "public acts, records, and preceedings of every other state" and that "no state shall...deny to any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of the laws," respectively.

The original racism- driven argument against interracial marriage goes against the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

__**What legal action has been taken?**__ The following are important cases regarding marriage rights.


 * **//Loving v. Virginia://** perhaps the most important marriage-related Supreme Court case. It overrode //Pace v. Alabama,// which declared Alabama's anti-miscegenation statute to be Constitutional.

Richard Loving and his wife, Mildred (a "Negro"), were arrested in Virginia because they had married into another race; they moved to Washington D.C. to escape persecution. Upon returning to Virginia, they were arrested again, causing them to seek help from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Virginia anti- miscegenation law was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause. From then on, states repealed their miscegenation laws and the influence states had on marriage was weakened.

//"...I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.” //
 * In closing, the words of Mildred Loving:**
 * < **WORKS CITED:**

Pascoe, Peggy. //What Comes Naturally: Miscegenation Law and the Making of Race in America//. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print. Kennedy, Randall. //Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption//. New York: Pantheon, 2003. Print. Grossman, Joanna. "The Fortieth Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia: The Legal Legacy of the Case That Ended Legal Prohibitions on Interracial Marriage." //FindLaw's Writ | Legal Commentary//. 12 June 2007. Web. 19 May 2011. . "Loving v. Virginia." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 19 May 2011. . ||