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Comment by rdouble | Hacker News Reader

as soon as I knew that my beloved and I would marry into an "interracial" marriage ... I figured that my children would have no hope to "not be seen as any different."

Minnesota and asian countries are particularly bad about that sort of thing, but in Los Angeles nobody would look twice.

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Can I ask what Minnesota has anything to do with this statement? I mean, as a native Minnesotan, I know what you're talking about, but there are MUCH further extreme states than here. Montana, Utah, Idaho, the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin, I feel are all much more critical of interracial marriage. Minnesota has the highest hmong population in the US (IIRC) and with that comes a significant number of interracial marriages (can't remember the number off the top of my head). If you want to put aside interracial marriage and look at another factor that deals with race, we voted in the first Muslim into congress. Keith.

And everyone loves Keith.

The guy I was responding to lives in Minnesota (so do I). Minnesotans aren't critical of interracial marriage but they do tend to point out when people are "different." Especially once you get outside of the Twin Cities. Regarding your specific examples, Idaho, Montana and Utah have higher rates of interracial marriage than MN. The Hmong community is pretty insular and it would be surprising if they factored into the interracial marriage stats in any significant way.

Correct. I've actually seen Census figures that suggest that Minnesota has a very high percentage of "interracial" marriages, which have never, ever been illegal here. My wife likes living in Minnesota very well. We've both heard funny questions about our relationship to our children in various places we have been, inside and outside the United States, but never to an annoying degree here in Minnesota.

AFTER EDIT: I was Keith's classmate in law school. I like Keith too. I can't vote for him (I don't live in his district), and I don't share many policy preferences with him, but I like him on a personal level.

I've actually seen Census figures that suggest that Minnesota has a very high percentage of "interracial" marriages

Minnesota's percentage of interracial marriage is 4.4% (In contrast, California is 12.8%. The highest is Hawaii, which is 37.2%)

Does the definition of "interracial" there include "White" and "Hispanic" as an example of "interracial"? Strictly speaking, that would be incorrect, because "race" is one category, and Hispanic ethnicity an overlapping category, in United States Census data. (Some summary reports, doubtless including the report you are kindly sharing figures from, get confused on this issue. What is your source?)

The Census Bureau says

"The U.S. Census Bureau collects race data in accordance with guidelines provided by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and these data are based on self-identification. The racial categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race item include racial and national origin or sociocultural groups. People may choose to report more than one race to indicate their racial mixture, such as 'American Indian' and 'White.' People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race."

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/meta/long_RHI525211.htm

A similar statement is found as footnote 7 in the Census Brief 2010 "Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010"

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf

"The race categories included in the census questionnaire generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country and are not an attempt to define race biologically, anthropologically, or genetically. In addition, it is recognized that the categories of the race question include race and national origin or sociocultural groups."

The info is from the census so they use the same definitions as in their other reports.

http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-14.pdf

Thanks for the link to the chart. I see you read correctly down the correct column of Table 7 in your previous reply. I knew Hawaii was higher, but I was not aware so many other states were higher. The local newspaper report I read some years ago about the issue may have been referring to something else ("white"-"black" marriages?) but I have no source, so I'll refer to the source you kindly shared from now on.

According to USA Today (sourced from Pew Research Center), Minnesota isn't particularly high for interracial marriage.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/wellness/marriage...

That's not a criticism of the state or anything, but it does refute the idea that Minnesota has a very high percentage of interracial marriages.

Any interracial couple is going to get stares. Even in LA.

A half white, half asian kid is not going to get stares in LA.

Oh my bad, I thought you meant the couple. No, I don't think a mixed kid would get stares.

Living in the Bay Area, getting stared at is certainly the exception rather than the rule. It's not a big deal here, or in LA IMO.

My wife's from Taiwan and I'm caucasian and we never feel like anyone stares at us as a couple here in Minneapolis.

I don't mean a rude stare. Do you ever get people just looking at you more than they would look at another couple just out of curiosity?

Well, she you see a dozen every day you step outside, you are probably going to stop being shocked or amazed or whatever it is.

The only place my wife and I might have gotten stares in new york was a very fobby area we went to do noraebang in.

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