Article: Why Civil Rights Organizations Ignore Interracial Couples
JC
People’s lurid fascination with interracial sex is a major impediment to meaningful discussions about interracial relationships. It also explains why the rights of interracial couples have never really been taken seriously as a civil rights issue. On the 50th anniversary of Emmett Till’s death, Carmen Van Kerckhove asks: How can you divorce interracial relationships from civil rights when tensions surrounding these relationships lie at the heart of some of the worst atrocities in American history committed against blacks? Here are some excerpts (read the full article here):
Actually my workshop was all about debunking myths and ripping apart stereotypes. But the minute he heard me say the word “interracial,” all he could think about was sex. The fact that I was there to talk about interracial relationships could only mean that I myself was sexually available and that I’d be up for a miscegenational roll in the hay—with him.
The point of my story is that people’s lurid fascination with interracial sex is a major impediment to meaningful discussions about interracial relationships. It also explains why the rights of interracial couples have never really been taken seriously as a civil rights issue. The sexual implications are so pervasive that interracial relationships are seen as instances of license or personal indulgence, rather than expressions of love and freedom…
It’s time for civil rights leaders to get over their fears of miscegenation. Whether they like it or not, communities of color are becoming increasingly diverse due to interracial relationships and the mixed race children resulting from these couples. Civil rights groups can’t condemn a cross-burning on the lawn of a black family as a hate crime while remaining silent when the same thing happens to an interracial family. Interracial couples deserve equal protection under the law.
Francisco wrote:
Sorry about the incomplete message sent earlier.
I wanted to speak to your comment regarding how people and Civil Rights groups react to the topic of Interracial Relationships.
People who equate conversations of interracial relationships with a good opening line during happy hour at the local watering hole would probably do so with the most tragic of news headlines. However, the fact that you run into this response regularly warrants some consideration.
What I’ve learnt through my research is the importance of being able to distinguish between ‘a people’ and ‘a culture’. A culture of mixed race or people of mixed union has yet to be established . I believe elements exist that may forge the foundation, but these elements have not yet converged to a collection of defining, identifiable traits.
So if the issue historically is about not letting two people of different race marry, then an embarrassingly logical focal point of the discussion will often be sex before food, clothing, music or folklore. If we draw from the history of gay marriage, at least on the surface the fight didn’t seem to be about sex between two people of the same gender but about the right for one culture to have the same rights as any other cultures. There was a graduation from a lifestyle to a culture. Until there is semblance of unity, mixed unions will continue to be counted by the twos both from Civil Rights groups and the general population - whomever they may be.
Thank you for letting me share my longwinded thoughts.
Ciao,
Francisco
Posted 02 Aug 2005 at 4:10 pm ¶