8.4 Percent of All Marriages Are Interracial Now

Those searching for more signs of "how far American has come" from its ugly racist past have a new statistic to latch onto today.

Those searching for more signs of "how far American has come" from its ugly racist past have a new statistic to latch onto today. According to a new Pew study 8.4 percent of all American marriages are between people of different races, an all-time high. For perspective, interracial marriages constituted only a 3.2 percent share back in 1980. Obviously, much of that growth has to do with interracial relationships becoming less taboo, as reflected in roughly 15 percent of recent marriages (in 2010) being between different races. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled against bans on interracial marriages.

So, does this mean we're living in a perfect postracial America? Um, no. As the following bit of data from Pew's report shows, the well-documented biases of some racial communities still exist, especially once gender is taken into account. Mainly, those against black women and Asian men.

Even if America appears to be on its way to greater acceptance of interracial marriages, a glance at the couple dozen states banning gay marriage plus the antiquated views of the Republican presidential contenders shows we still have a long way to go when it comes to same-sex ones.

Image by ejwhite via Shutterstock.