Interracial marriages at an all-time high, study says

[IronLionZion]

(CNN) -- The first time Priya Merrill, who is Indian, brought her white boyfriend home for Thanksgiving in 2007, the dinner was uncomfortable and confusing. She still remembers her family asking if Andrew was the bartender or a family photographer.

The couple married last August, and her Indian family has warmed up to her husband despite their racial differences.

"I think we get the best of both cultures," said Merrill, 27, of New York. She added, "Sometimes I just forget that we're interracial. I don't really think about it."

Asian. White. Black. Hispanic. Do race and ethnicity matter when it comes to marriage?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/06/04/pew.interracial.marriage/index.html

1 out of 7 new marriages seems like a lot. I'm impressed if this is true. It will be interesting to see what the 2010 census turns up. I'm also impressed with what I've seen with my own eyes around DC.

[mulsh]

1. oh my god if this is a trend

someday the term "inter-racial" may become meaningless. just thinking ahead at some of the positive aspects of this. my family is full of "interracial' marriages. It's a good thing.

[MiddleFingerMom]

2. I'm not sure which...

.
.
...but either MiddleFingerMomMom's parents or grandparents --
one of the partners was English and one was Irish and they
married in Europe when such a marriage was very similar to
a Black/White marriage in Mississippi in the 1950's.
.
I really LIKE having in my genes the capacity for such an
overwhelming love that would enable them to conquer such
an enormous mountain of bullshit.
.

[HipChick]

3. America still lags behind and has a lot of growing up to do...

Nobody bats an eyelid at inter racial marriages in europe...very common...

[hippywife]

4. From some of the news reports

I've been hearing lately, bigotry is growing in Europe due to immigration, just as here. Some of the residents of some countries I've heard interviewed are every bit as ugly as here. So it's still no paradise there, either, sadly.

[IronLionZion]

5. I think it varies a lot by country

This has always been common in the UK and France with their colonial history, but not so much in northern or eastern Europe. A black peace corps volunteer I know who did her work in Ukraine had people throw bananas at her and call her a monkey. A lot of people there associate dark skin with crime also.