American's Views on 'Interracial' Marriage - It's Not 1958

The United States has changed a lot in 50 years. And in fact, even the last decade. The Gallup poll on interracial marriage best sums it up. In 1958, 4 % of Americans approved of interracial marriage, in 1968, 20 %, in 1983, 43 %. The number was at 48 % at the beginning of Clinton's term , but shot up to 64 % from the years of 1994 to 1997, as the Generation X'ers move into young adulthood. As of 2007, the numbers were overwhelmingly in the 'approval' camp - at 77 %.



This is nothing short of a social revolution, yet there are some on what could be called the political left, that don't acknowledge this sea change. One hears arguments that America is a racist nation, even though compared with most historical societies, it is not. Economic differences between ethnics groups exist mostly because of the historical damage of racism, or immigration patterns. The United States is, however, a polarized and deeply class-based society.

Until the left, including liberals, fully accept the notion that it is not 1958, they will continue to paternalize large sections of the American working class as intolerant xenophobes. Paternalization does not lead to effective communication, or in building the common class interests that can unite workers and bring them to power. Which is the point, after all (for leftists - if not liberals). Identity politics, and its inherent divisiveness, is something the ruling class is quite happy to allow debate on. It could be characterized as a domestic form of Divide et Impera.

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Source:
1 Most Americans Approve of Interracial Marriages - Gallup