The view on bigotry in relation to interracial relationships, sex and marriages
Over the years, many views on interracial relations, marriages or sex raised took different perspectives. Whether the opposition to these interracial relationships occurred without knowledge or intentionally, it still affected people. Bigotry was extremely common in the 1990’s. Bigotry stands for biases, narrow-mindedness and discrimination. Interracial relationship opposition was highly evident in Anne Hemingway’s book “The Colour of Love.”In this book the character Yacov; Jonathan`s father comes out as the major bigot in his son’s relationship to Lisa who is a black girl. Consumed with so much hatred, of why his son chose a black girl, and left all the other white, Jewish girls drove him in bitterly repelling that relationship.
Sarah, who is Jonathan’s mother, tried her best to convince Yacov that love never denied anyone just because of their skin.. People who opposed interracial marriages, relationships or sex related to narrow-mindedness and discrimination just like Yacov. He thought that, by his son mixing with the black people in his neighborhood or having a black girlfriend, he had forgotten about his heritage. Yacov’s opposition to this relationship emerged from the hurt he had faced in his life in the past.
Several forces lead to the shared opposition and discrimination against interracial relationships. Hate crimes, for instance; these are wrongs committed against people just because of their ethnicity or race. This appeared in the beginning chapters of the book, where Yacov experienced firsthand the killing of his parents and sister, Laura in cold blood by the officers who were black. He watched, as they gang-raped Laura and this left a stigma in his life that made him hate blacks. Another force that drives this shared bigotry to interracial relationships is a lack of education in some countries like Germany, where racism prevailed. Folks in such countries took blacks as barbaric, unattractive and culturally defunct, hence they opposed interactive relations. This is extremely evident in the present day in Germany in that there are very few interracial marriages and relationships. However, the few interracial relationships and marriages cases that exist face a lot of discrimination.
Classism/religious biases and racism were forces to bigotry. Bigotry in parents opposing interracial relationships amongst their kids, based on more on the need to ensure the welfare of their kids than ignorance. The parties involved should also let them know of their knowledge of how people viewed and judged them in society.
Classism is one of the major forces behind this shared bigotry. Classism is a discrimination based on one`s social class. The community and especially family opposes interracial relationship among their children, judging them on their social background, if they come from affluent families. Classism includes behaviors and attitudes of one higher class family to the lower class family of the other party in the relationship. One family discriminates on the relationship based on the level of education, fashion awareness music and wealth in the other partner’s family. A religious bias also acts as a manipulative factor in opposition of interracial relationships, when two different families believe to opposite religions. For some communities, this is a strongly debated factor and does not only oppose such relationships, but also nullifies them altogether. For example, for most Muslim and Arabic communities, they oppose interracial relations with any member who is not a believer of Islam, Hindu or Arabic. Going against these religious norms could cost one of the parties life or lead to excommunication.
Racism has always been a hindrance and a driving force to bigotry shared in opposition of interracial relationships in the past. In the slavery period, racism was widespread, where the white race obsessed in maintaining race superiority hence they instilled laws that banned interracial relationships. They were avoiding social equality with the blacks and, laid down many prohibitions in different states. They opposed interracial relationships and marriages, which were usually made illegally; an example was the state of Virginia. It goes down in history as the state that heavily opposed interracial marriages.
The shared bigotry in opposing interracial relationships based also on one`s sexual orientation. This was a driving force, especially when a family had not accepted their child’s orientation. In case one had got into the interracial relationship due to her sexual orientation, the needs and changes that come with it, then the community and family would be highly motivated to object and put an end to its continuity.
In conclusion, t is worth mentioning that the main objections as to why and how bigotry shared in opposing interracial marriages arose was not in the history of interracial marriages, sex or relationships, not the race or sexuality – it was all based on the perception of the society over this issue. If the society were not into other people’s lives, societal values, and acceptable norms, then this issue of interracial marriages would take a very positive path.