A Portrait of Change

[Londo]

Now the Obama-Robinson family’s move to the White House seems like a symbolic end point for the once-firm idea that people of different backgrounds should not date, marry or bear children. In Mr. Obama’s lifetime, racial intermarriage not only became legal everywhere in the United States, but has started to flourish. As many as a quarter of white Americans and nearly half of black Americans belong to a multiracial family, estimates Joshua R. Goldstein of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.

Diversity inside families, said Michael J. Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Stanford University, is “the most interesting kind of diversity there is, because it brings people together cheek by jowl in a way that they never were before.”

“There’s nothing as powerful as family relationships,” Mr. Rosenfeld said, “and that’s why interracial marriage was illegal for so long in the U.S.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/us/politics/21family.html?pagewanted=1&hp

 

[metalcore]

And people here in SA still say "stick to your own race" or "stick to your own kind". There is nothing wrong with mixed race marriages, it gives the children multicultural view on the world and allows for harmony.

I think Obama is going to be the catalyst for a lot of change not only in the US but all over the world and it will redifine the meaning of "a cute guy" or "hot babe" (which people often seem to use to refer to people of their own race )in many parts of society.

 

[blunomore]

What exactly is his point?

I really take offense at people saying that interracial relationships/families have some 'special' meaning. Don't attribute something to it that it does not have. Two people met and fell in love. That's all it is.

 

[Hoof-Hearted]

What exactly is his point?

I really take offense at people saying that interracial relationships/families have some 'special' meaning. Don't attribute something to it that it does not have. Two people met and fell in love. That's all it is.

+1

... and same goes for the presidency. The person with the best spin campaign won the race

 

[Londo]

What exactly is his point?

I really take offense at people saying that interracial relationships/families have some 'special' meaning. Don't attribute something to it that it does not have. Two people met and fell in love. That's all it is.

I missed that. Where does who say that?

 

[Pitbull]

I'm so fk'ng sick of this Obama hype.....

He's an American, they don't give a fk about Africa. WTF is the big deal? I don't have no bloody clue....

 

[blunomore]

I missed that. Where does who say that?

Please note the sections that were highlighted by me -

Now the Obama-Robinson family’s move to the White House seems like a symbolic end point for the once-firm idea that people of different backgrounds should not date, marry or bear children. In Mr. Obama’s lifetime, racial intermarriage not only became legal everywhere in the United States, but has started to flourish. As many as a quarter of white Americans and nearly half of black Americans belong to a multiracial family, estimates Joshua R. Goldstein of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.

Diversity inside families, said Michael J. Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Stanford University, is “the most interesting kind of diversity there is, because it brings people together cheek by jowl in a way that they never were before.”

“There’s nothing as powerful as family relationships,” Mr. Rosenfeld said, “and that’s why interracial marriage was illegal for so long in the U.S.”

 

[syntax]

I'm so fk'ng sick of this Obama hype.....

He's an American, they don't give a fk about Africa. WTF is the big deal? I don't have no bloody clue....

It is actually a big deal, He can potentially affect the rest of the world. If he is the man everyone is making him out to be, then he could help turn around alot of the problems america has, which could in turn propagate worldwide.

 

[Pitbull]

It is actually a big deal, He can potentially affect the rest of the world. If he is the man everyone is making him out to be, then he could help turn around alot of the problems america has, which could in turn propagate worldwide.

You believe that ?

 

[syntax]

You believe that ?

i am hoping for that

 

[Londo]

Now the Obama-Robinson family’s move to the White House seems like a symbolic end point for the once-firm idea that people of different backgrounds should not date, marry or bear children. In Mr. Obama’s lifetime, racial intermarriage not only became legal everywhere in the United States, but has started to flourish. As many as a quarter of white Americans and nearly half of black Americans belong to a multiracial family, estimates Joshua R. Goldstein of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.

Diversity inside families, said Michael J. Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Stanford University, is “the most interesting kind of diversity there is, because it brings people together cheek by jowl in a way that they never were before.”

“There’s nothing as powerful as family relationships,” Mr. Rosenfeld said, “and that’s why interracial marriage was illegal for so long in the U.S.”

What exactly is his point?

I really take offense at people saying that interracial relationships/families have some 'special' meaning. Don't attribute something to it that it does not have. Two people met and fell in love. That's all it is.

He's a sociologist. He studies these things. He is not saying "Aaaw, look how cute that (mixed race) couple is! So special!" He is looking at it as societal evolution.

What I find interesting is how family relationships are a powerful force for breaking down barriers. When a different race person becomes part of your family, both families become linked in a strong, close way. I have experienced that first hand.

The other point that he makes is that banning interracial marriage (both in the US and here) was a method of keeping the races apart. A kind of "divide & rule" to keep blacks and whites from learning about each other. The old "swart gevaar" tactic.

 

[blunomore]

He's a sociologist. He studies these things. He is not saying "Aaaw, look how cute that (mixed race) couple is! So special!" He is looking at it as societal evolution.

What I find interesting is how family relationships are a powerful force for breaking down barriers. When a different race person becomes part of your family, both families become linked in a strong, close way. I have experienced that first hand.

The other point that he makes is that banning interracial marriage (both in the US and here) was a method of keeping the races apart. A kind of "divide & rule" to keep blacks and whites from learning about each other. The old "swart gevaar" tactic.

What I am saying, is that there ought to be no more meaning attached to an interracial relationship than one between two people from the same ethnic background. They are both from the human race, period.

People in such relationships should not have to carry the 'burden' of being the symbol of this or the other thing. It's rubbish. It is PRECISELY because of governments' idiotic policies that an interracial relationship is a novelty.

 

[Londo]

What I am saying, is that there ought to be no more meaning attached to an interracial relationship than one between two people from the same ethnic background. They are both from the human race, period.

People in such relationships should not have to carry the 'burden' of being the symbol of this or the other thing. It's rubbish. It is PRECISELY because of governments' idiotic policies that an interracial relationship is a novelty.

Absolutely!

 

[metalcore]

What I am saying, is that there ought to be no more meaning attached to an interracial relationship than one between two people from the same ethnic background. They are both from the human race, period.

People in such relationships should not have to carry the 'burden' of being the symbol of this or the other thing. It's rubbish. It is PRECISELY because of governments' idiotic policies that an interracial relationship is a novelty.

I agree with you, but the reality of it is that in reality its a big deal because there are many relationships that I have seen that could have gone romantic because the people were perfect matches, but nothing happened because one person felt that because the other person is of another race the thing should stay plutonic.

On the other hand I have seen 3 girls go for guys of other races not because they just happened to meet these guys but because they were actually making sure they got these guys. Even if there were perfectly suitable guys of the same race they clearly wanted nothing to do with guys of the same race as them. This was for various reasons, I think one of them was abused by a family member so they wanted to distance themselves from their same race for that reason, and the other two thought it would be cool and trendy.

 

[blunomore]

On the other hand I have seen 3 girls go for guys of other races not because they just happened to meet these guys but because they were actually making sure they got these guys. Even if there were perfectly suitable guys of the same race they clearly wanted nothing to do with guys of the same race as them. This was for various reasons, I think one of them was abused by a family member so they wanted to distance themselves from their same race for that reason, and the other two thought it would be cool and trendy.

If you spend some time on e.g. Nelson Mandela Square or any of the other 'trendy' hangouts, you see this a lot. People of different races purposely interacting to make a statement. How immature!

A while ago, Mr Blu served on the Board of a company where the management has the typical profile - middle-aged white males. When they found out that we were a couple, they were overjoyed and Mr Blu went up quite a few notches in the popularity stakes, because, in their minds, since his partner is white, he must be an OK guy