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50 years ago 72% of Americans opposed the legalizing of interracial marriage
- Thread starter flkraven
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Interframe
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50 years from 2015 will be looked at the same way for same-sex marriage. Future generations will call us barbaric for ever even discriminating against LGBTQ people.
Stuff that seems like ancient history we tend to forget is still a part of the lives of countless people still living and breathing today.
Heck, when I was born, the subject of HIV and AIDS and treatment of the LGBT community seemed to be at a fever-pitch of denial and resentment, and that seems like a bad, bad dream from a bygone, less-enlightened era to me.
And then I see the Muslim Refugee crisis and how many people still support Trump on it, and I'm reminded of how things were in the 1930s when Jewish immigrants were fleeing the damn Holocaust...
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
We should be more enlightened, more empathetic, more kind, more reasonable...
... We SHOULD be.
Heck, when I was born, the subject of HIV and AIDS and treatment of the LGBT community seemed to be at a fever-pitch of denial and resentment, and that seems like a bad, bad dream from a bygone, less-enlightened era to me.
And then I see the Muslim Refugee crisis and how many people still support Trump on it, and I'm reminded of how things were in the 1930s when Jewish immigrants were fleeing the damn Holocaust...
This was us. We did this.
In June 1939, just three months before the start of World War II, a ship filled with Jewish refugees left Germany seeking asylum in Cuba, the United States and Canada. Each of those countries turned them away.
One passenger, named Max Loewe — who was a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp — tried to commit suicide rather than get sent back to Europe. Loewe was allowed to leave the ship to be taken to a hospital. But his wife and children weren't allowed to visit him there; they were kept on board.
The luckiest St. Louis passengers were sent to Great Britain; all but one of them survived the war there. The rest went to the Netherlands, Belgium and France — all countries that would later be invaded by the Nazis and their Jews sent to the camps.
254 of the passengers on the St. Louis died in the Holocaust.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
We should be more enlightened, more empathetic, more kind, more reasonable...
... We SHOULD be.
Phoenix RISING
Banned
That was a different verse. "Slaves obey your masters." I'll also spare you the story of ham and his descendants.
We now know that biblical slaves are not the same as chattel slaves. Also, now that we are more literate than illiterate, we know that God intends for his kingdom to be one of all Nations, not just the Jews.
SkeptiMism
Member
Thank you OP for the thread. Didn't know this (as European).
It's really maddening to think about how backwards the society was so little time ago.. and how it still is in many ways.
It's really maddening to think about how backwards the society was so little time ago.. and how it still is in many ways.
Yet a majority of Americans supported same sex marriage by the time the SCOTUS got around to legalizing it. Strange how that turned around.
I should get interracially gay married to my boyfriend and have an interracial gay wedding. The wedding invitations will talk at length about how interracial and gay it will be. Easy way to cull the invite list.
I should get interracially gay married to my boyfriend and have an interracial gay wedding. The wedding invitations will talk at length about how interracial and gay it will be. Easy way to cull the invite list.
That's because sexism was also a worse thing 50 years ago, lest we forget. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and a win is still a much-needed win.
But there was some groundbreaking interracial marriages in history with black husbands and white wives.
Ruth Williams Khama and Sir Seretse Khama
While attending law school in England, Ruth met Sir Seretse Khama (then Prince Seretse Khama), the chief of the Bamangwato tribe, who became Botswana's first president in 1966. Under his leadership, the country underwent significant economic and social progress, while Ruth was a politically active and influential First Lady. But first they had to overcome the wave of bigotry brought about by their controversial marriage. When they announced the news in 1948, Ruth's father threw her out of the house, while Seretse's uncle declared ”if he brings his white wife here, I will fight him to the death." Bowing to pressure from apartheid South Africa, the British government attempted to stop the marriage and then prevented the couple from returning to Botswana.
For eight years they lived as exiles in England, until the Bamangwato sent a personal cable to the Queen in protest. Their sons Ian and Tshekedi later became significant political figures as well. The marriage is said to have inspired the film A Marriage of Inconvenience and the book Colour Bar.
Louisa and Louis Gregory
Both Louis Gregory, an African American man and Louisa Mathews, a British woman were of the Bahá'í faith: a religion centered on unity. The two met in 1911 on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in Egypt. Their love for one another was not received well by the general public, especially in the United States, where racism was still very much the norm. In spite of the Bahá'í faith's innermost message of ”Oneness of Mankind," many people of the faith living in Washington, D.C. adhered to the attitude of racial segregation that was rampant during the time.
With Bahá'í leader Abdu'l-Bahá declaring his staunch support for interracial marriages, Louis and Louisa were married in 1912 in New York, becoming the first interracial Bahá'í couple. Louis Gregory became a strong advocate for racial unity in both the United States as well as within the Bahá'í community; his most significant expression of the teachings of his faith come from his marriage. Despite countless obstacles, the couple remained married for almost 40 years, until Louis Gregory's death in 1951.
Frederick Douglass and Helen Pitts
In 1884, Frederick Douglass married Helen Pitts, a white feminist from Honeoye, New York. Pitts was the daughter of Gideon Pitts, Jr., an abolitionist colleague and friend of Douglass. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College (then called Mount Holyoke Female Seminary), Pitts worked on a radical feminist publication named Alpha while living in Washington, D.C. The marriage provoked a storm of controversy, since Pitts was both white and nearly 20 years younger than Douglass. Her family stopped speaking to her; his children considered the marriage a repudiation of their mother. However, feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton congratulated the couple.
Kai Dracon
Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
White people can't stop their kids from turning out to be gay no matter how hard they try. Had a big impact on societal acceptance when they had to choose between disowning their own family or learning how to be decent human beings.
The funny thing about the ham thing was that there is absolutely no scientific or documented religious ancient proof that all blacks come from "ham" Any time its mentioned from what I've read the 3 sons of noah are assumed to be black in old sources.
Moreso amusing is that when I read white commentary on these points its almost embarassing what they will do to try and twist what the writting meant; in one case they said the it wasn't really dark like ham but like a "white dark" or something stupid like that.
It seems that the ham thing was done by some catholic nun who said she had a "vision" that showed her blacks were cursed or something. This was mid 1800s? Not sure why people believed her back then, on further reasearch it seems she should have been considered a witch back then.
I really love that the internet exists though. None of this crap could fly today. Must have been terrifying to be an everyday joe and be at the mercy of whoever was thrown on top of a soapbox for the masses to listen to and that was what was perceived as facts.
LordKasual
Banned
Quite the opposite, actually. It shows how little time has actually passed since things were much worse for some people.
It changed quick, so some people are quick to forget. I have older relatives who were direct victims of this kind of shit. Obama simply running for president was a complete and total mindfuck for many of them, let alone winning.
Yes, it was illegal in most States in 1950, and in 1967 it was still illegal in 16 states until the Supreme Court ruling. This allows is an example of how important the Supreme Court is.
Insane Metal
Member
Polioliolio
Member
So slooowww moving... and it's because the south is so resilient to experiencing changes.. If we could simultaneously force someone to know what it's like to have a gay brother, and having a love interest who is of the opposite race, while having a mentally handicapped person as a boss, and a transvestite for a dad, all in one simulation, we could work our way through this in a few short years.
Internet got more popular and people got exposed to new things?
It just blows my mind. Half of my family is interracial, so many of my friends are in inter-racial relationships & my own current relationship is interracial. it just seems so crazy that it was even a problem so recently .. idk man. Sometimes it seems like the only way humanity can get along as a whole is if we all fucking looked exactly the same.
My father is Canadian (born and raised) of a very 'white' background. My mother was born in Spain and raised in Venezuela.
My fiancée's father is American (born and raised) of a very Italian background and her mother was born and raised in Korea and still lives there to this day.
Our kids will have quite a diverse background, one only possible through interracial relationships. It's easy to assume just black and white when discussing interracial relationships, but I nor my fiancée would have been born if it was still taboo/illegal. I am grateful to those that were brave enough 50+ years ago to go against popular opinion and do something that was absolutely right and just.
The robots thing is definitely happening in our lifetimes, and before extraterrestrials.
TangoAlphaLima
Member
"Would we still be living in a post-apocalyptic hellscape if Hillary didn't have a private email server?"
I think VR relationships come first.
The Last Wizard
Member
And passed on their shitty values to their kids who will do the same, which is why racism and hate will never die.
Sometimes it feels like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. This election was a big step back.
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
This shit is so fucking sad. People thought like that (and alot still do). It was reported as news, wtf. lol.
boiled goose
good with gravy
Those activist judges.
History will similarly judge our time period.
All of our wars in the middle east.
Constitutional violations.
Mass incarceration.
Police shootings
Mass shootings.
Pot being schedule 1 drug.
Xenophobic anti immigrant policies.
We're still insane. Hopefully we continue to make progress and not get destroyed from within.
History will similarly judge our time period.
All of our wars in the middle east.
Constitutional violations.
Mass incarceration.
Police shootings
Mass shootings.
Pot being schedule 1 drug.
Xenophobic anti immigrant policies.
We're still insane. Hopefully we continue to make progress and not get destroyed from within.
Mattlikewhoa
Member
And think about it... Some of those people are still alive.
Don't worry folks, the Southern US will definitely still exist in 2065 so I'm sure they'll find some new subset of people to terrorize in the name of a poorly interpreted book.
What makes me most sad isn't how history repeats itself, it's how people who are so clearly on the wrong side of it agree that barbaric acts of the past were absurd. It's like our racist grandparents who wince when two men kiss but can't possibly understand how someone from less than a century prior used the same Bible to justify racial segregation.
It just blows my mind how little of the big picture most people are capable of seeing.
What makes me most sad isn't how history repeats itself, it's how people who are so clearly on the wrong side of it agree that barbaric acts of the past were absurd. It's like our racist grandparents who wince when two men kiss but can't possibly understand how someone from less than a century prior used the same Bible to justify racial segregation.
It just blows my mind how little of the big picture most people are capable of seeing.
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