Black History Month 2026: Capitalism and Interracial Relationships

Day 14

The Supreme Court ruling on Loving vs. Virginia in 1967 made interracial relationships legal nationwide, but most Americans didn’t approve of interracial relationships since the 1990s [1][2]. This shows how often legislation has to come before public approval. So when people tell you, “Wait until more people support XYZ before you advocate for it!” understand they’re either ignorant or deliberately trying to mislead you. But this post isn’t about popularity.

The “face” of interracial relationships in America is a Black man with a white woman. This is done partially stoke the flames of racism. America has a long history of portraying Black men as hypersexual beings who are out to rape white women. This idea is why Carolyn Bryant was able to get away with spreading the lies about Emmett Till that led to her husband and a couple of other wh1te vigilantes murdering him [3][4]. The reality is Black-white interracial couples are the least common interracial couples. But very few racists talk about that because Blackness is more of “threat” to white supremacy than any other pairing. But this post isn’t about racial stereotypes.

This post is about capitalism, specifically how capitalism is the reason interracial relationships were made illegal in the first place!

Before the United States was a country, it was a set of British Colonies. During this time, both slaves and indentured servants worked the fields for the wealthy British aristocrats. Indentured servants were treated similarly to slaves, but possessed multiple forms of legal protection slaves didn’t. Indentured servitude was temporary and any children they had were not born into indentured servitude, to list a couple of examples. Because they “worked” together, indentured servants often formed friendships, relationships, and even had children with slaves. Indentured servants were also mostly white, and this was a problem.

The British aristocrats realized they were outnumbered. If the indentured servants and slaves ever started questioning why they had to take orders, it wouldn’t bode well for the aristocrats who owned the farms. Since they wanted to keep their place in the capitalist hierarchy, the aristocrats needed a way to divide the indentured servants from the slaves. They did it by telling the indentured servants they were superior to the slaves because they were white and that meant they had more in common British aristocrats who were exploiting them than with the slaves the aristocrats were also exploiting. It wasn’t long until the colonies started outlawing interracial marriages and allowing white commoners to carry guns, a freedom they didn’t give to free Black people [5][6].

And that is why interracial marriage was outlawed in the US: rich people wanted to stay rich. It’s the same reason wealthy Germans supported Hitler. It’s the same reason we have billionaires in America backing Trump.

Sources:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia

[2] https://news.gallup.com/poll/354638/approval-interracial-marriage-new-high.aspx

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till

[4] https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/emmett-tills-death-inspired-movement

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws_in_the_United_States

[6] Dying of Whiteness by Jonathan Metzl

Enjoying my content?