In the 2000 election cycle, George W Bush and Karl Rove made a decision that in order to win the South Carolina primary against a surging John McCain, that Bush needed to go and give a speech to the ultra-fundamentalist Bob Jones University, a school that among other things banned inter-racial dating and marriage. It helped him get the fundamentalist bigot vote in South Carolina, which is pretty sizable in the SC Republican primary, and Bush went on to win SC and the nomination.
In that election cycle, I was doing consulting work for the NAACP National Voter Fund, and we used the fact that Bush had made that decision a lot in working to motivate African-American voters to register and vote, so I remember the issue well and have very strong feelings about it. In my mind, it was one of the 2 lowest points in the Republican Southern strategy that has used racism to win over a lot of white Southerners since the 1960s- the other being the Reagan campaign’s infamous decision to launch its 1980 general election campaign in Philadelphia, MS- the town where 3 civil rights were brutally murdered.
But you know, thankfully the whole inter-racial marriage issue hasn’t been talked about much since the Bob Jones incident. The vast majority of Americans have long since moved past worrying about such ridiculous things, and are fully comfortable with people of any race marrying each other. Suddenly, though, very strangely, the issue has resurfaced.
On January 23, 2014, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) said that it would formally recognize the Pamunkey Indian Tribe based in Virginia, a tribe which has historically and still does ban inter-racial marriage.
Rightfully so, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are deeply concerned and have written a letter Attorney General Holder and Secretary Sally Jewell requesting that the Department of Justice “investigate this matter and that the Administration stop and / or defer pending acknowledgement decisions or related actions until DOJ reports back to the Congress.” The letter explains that the Pamunkey tribe has “carried out racially discriminatory laws, policies and formal actions against African-Americans.” This includes prohibiting interracial marriages. The scariest part is that the BIA itself has recognized these actions and still expressed its intent to federally recognize the tribe. The CBC is right when it says that given the President’s “promotion of human rights,” turning a blind eye to this behavior would be morally reprehensible.
This is just stupid. Any institution banning inter-racial marriage needs to join the modern era, and they certainly shouldn’t be formally recognized by the federal government. This needs to change.
This is just stupid. Any institution banning inter-racial marriage needs to join the modern era, and they certainly shouldn’t be formally recognized by the federal government. This needs to change.