Just as the title says.
For various subcases:
(1) Simply personally not wanting an Interracial relationship
(2) Disapproving of others’ interracial relationships
(3) Wanting to ban or otherwise block interracial relationships.
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I guess if you are not attracted to other races, I can’t totally say you are racist. However, if you don’t want an international(is that the right word?) relationship just because they are another race, it seems racist.
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Yeah, that’s intolerant.
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Good Lord. Yes, that’s very intolerant.
Patently, yes, in all those cases. How would you define the word “racism” if the answer to, say, (3) was to be “no”?
Terminology question: are you talking race or ethnicity / culture? A lot of individuals don’t want to deal with the extra work that comes with an intercultural relationship, and actively try to keep friends and family from doing the same. Making that choice for yourself is fine; making it for others is (in my opinion) wrong but not necessarily racist.
That said, basically, the answer is “yes, racist in all cases.” Anytime race is a defining factor, it’s generally racist.*
*Leaving affirmative action and other attempts to redress historical entrenched racism out of the equation for the moment.
- not necessarily racist.
- Racist.
- Racist as well as being none of anyone’s damn business except the couple involved.
Nailed it.
Hating other races or believing a particular race to be superior.
That is contradictory. Asians have been persecuted just as bad as blacks well into the 20th Century, yet look where they are. What about religion, is someone who does not want to marry someone else for religious reasons a religious bigot?
I don’t think so since religion is something chosen and directly affects their behavior and outlook on life. Like I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with someone who was a devout, going to church every sunday, praying all the time, thanking god for every little thing type. We just wouldn’t get along.
Religion is often just a proxy for culture. People don’t choose the religion they are born into and they are influenced by it even if they reject it. People can be as philosophical as they want about soul mates and true love defeating all other obstacles but it usually comes down to practicalities. Most marriages aren’t about finding your one true partner in life but instead finding a suitable match based on age, race, culture, sexual attraction, socioeconomic status, personality, and geographic proximity much like selecting anything else. Partners of different races may do just fine but it is just one more hurdle to overcome especially when you get family, friends, and the rest of society worked into the mix. The trade off often isn’t work it even if it would be a suitable match otherwise.
Regardless of what people claim, there are vanishingly few people who are truly race blind when it comes to romantic relationships. It often comes down to many people similar to me would make a good partner and some exceptional candidate from another race might do the trick as well. That isn’t equal However, that is one thing but judging others on their choices is quite another.
No, it isn’t. Religion is an aspect of culture, so the same criteria will apply. If you don’t want to marry someone else because you don’t want an interfaith household, no problem. If you don’t want to marry someone because you despise all Jews / Pagans / Christians / Whateverians, that’s bigotry.
In other words, it comes down to why you’re making the decision you’re making. If you’re looking at the cost / benefit ration of living the rest of your life in a bi-cultural household, that’s reasonable. If you just dislike people from group X, that’s bigotry.
I genuinely don’t understand the point about blacks and Asians, unless it was regarding the point about affirmative action. I only mentioned that because of my definition of “racism,” but it really doesn’t relate to the original question.
I guess I can see that. Most of the people I grew up around did chose their religion and believed in it so it would present everyday problems for us. I don’t have as large a frame of reference for cultural religion.
It seems like the very definition of racism
Please disregard the part of my post where I confused international and interracial.
Lord yes, case 2) and case 3) are pure bigotry. Even, for example, someone tried to warn me off of marrying my wife because marrying a Chinese citizen ends in tears, is clearly rlacist. Explaining that there will be challenges ahead that can strain a marriage, not least of which is dealing with bigots that disapprove of race mixing, and just making sure I’m up for that may not be necessarily racist.
Wait until you bring Mrs. Right, who happens to be a Platinum Blond, home to meet the parents… 
By the way, this is one of those OP’s where I’m actually scared to imagine what the original poster was thinking to post it. I mean, are you having thoughts in a negative way about interracial relationships?
Mind you, my wife and I are white, but our daughter and son are Asian. We have ZERO against interracial relationships.
For your own personal romantic relationships, go nuts on your requirements. If you’re only attracted to women, or if you’re only attracted to tattoo freaks, or if you’re only attracted to Asians, or if you’re not attracted to Filipinos, or if you think that devout Jews are unattractive, or if you like having sex with college girls but don’t want a serious relationship with one, or if you don’t want to get it on with someone transgendered, that’s not anything meaningfully bigoted, that’s just your own delightful sexual peculiarity.
The instant you start applying your own delightful sexual peculiarity into rules for other people is in the instant you become a bigot.
I’m a white American man, I am not attracted physically to Asian or African American women (but I am all about the Hispanas, chica!) so number 1 is not racist in that context.
Your other two scenarios are definitely racist though. Why would anyone give a shit about or actively try to prevent an interracial relationship if they weren’t racist?
I don’t know, because my mom didn’t “allow” me to date interracially when I was a teenager, and while her being racist was part of it, I think the biggest issues to her were upsetting my grandparents (she hates to make waves) and she thought biracial kids had a hard time. Actually she had tons of little reasons (“they celebrate different holidays than us!”), so I think some of it was just a desperate attempt to throw everything at the wall and hope something–anything–would stick (it didn’t).
But I guess maybe someone could disapprove of interracial relationships as a misguided attempt to think of the children or whatever, without actually being racist themselves.
(1) Depends. “I’m not generally attracted to Hispanic girls”: not racist. “I would never date a black girl”: racist (although I’m willing to make an exception even to the second statement if you live someplace where you might be beaten or killed or fired or whatever for dating outside your “race”).
(2) Yep, that makes you a racist.
(3) This too.
No, we haven’t. You can point to occasional examples where Asian people had it worse than black people in the US (Japanese internment camps during WWII, for example), but nobody except Native Americans had it as bad for as long as African-Americans.
[ol]
[li]The first is a personal view that has no negative impact upon others. Not racist.[/li][li]The second is iffy. It depends upon the external level of “disapproval.”[/li][li]Yes.[/li][/ol]