Could Trump Get Rid Of Interracial Marriage?

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It’s frightening to consider that the government can dictate whom you are allowed to love. Yet, America has a long history of policing Black, brown, and mixed-race families. With Trump’s administration seemingly intent on dragging us back to the 1940s and ’50s, could interracial marriage be at risk? NewsOne explores interracial marriage and how Trump and his allies might undermine an institution that has been legal in this country since 1967.

Interracial marriage in America is most certainly taken for granted. Its history paints a picture of racism, tyranny, and white supremacy, very similar to other historical institutions in this country. Interracial marriage became legal in 1967 after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Loving v. Virginia. The case involved a Black woman named Mildred Loving and her white husband, Richard Loving. The couple was arrested and sentenced to a year in a Virginia prison because of their relationship.

Their case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that marriage is a constitutional right and that the freedom to marry whomever one chooses is protected by the 14th Amendment.

Fast forward 58 years to a hyper-conservative Supreme Court that has already gutted Roe v. Wade and affirmative action. Now, many Americans fear that Loving v. Virginia could be next, which means millions of Americans could be punished for marrying outside their race.

What’s even scarier is that in the Dobbs case, which was used to overturn Roe v. Wade, the legal reasoning that Justice Alito used to overturn it could also be applied to undo Loving v. Virginia, according to the ACLU.

Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson also voiced her fear that interracial marriage could be next to get gutted by the court, drawing attention to the parallels between modern civil rights cases and the ones of the past.

“Some of these questions about sort of who decides and the concerns and legislative prerogatives, et cetera, sound very familiar to me,” Jackson said. “They sound in the same kinds of arguments that were made back in the day, ’50s, ‘60s, with respect to racial classifications and inconsistencies.”

Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which is more evidence to suggest that interracial marriage could be in jeopardy under the Trump administration. Trump has been clear about his plans to roll back any and every Biden initiative he possibly could. Biden’s Respect for Marriage Act was intended to protect same-sex marriages as well as interracial marriages.

From The Guardian:

The historic legislation passed with bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, protects same-sex and interracial marriages, prohibiting federal and state governments from denying the validity of a lawfully performed union based on sex, race or ethnicity. The law also repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which defined marriage as the union between a man and a woman and denied federal benefits to same-sex couples. Though the Supreme Court struck down part of the law, it remained on the books.

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

Lastly, we need to talk about Project 2025, the plan to dismantle civil rights as we know it. The 900-page racist agenda looks to elevate the ideology of the nuclear family, which was made popular by the Regan administration, according to American Progress.

Project 2025 recommends that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reverse its focus on LGBTQI+ equity and refocus efforts toward encouraging marriage, work, motherhood, fatherhood, and nuclear families. But the language is vague and doesn’t mention interracial marriage, leaving room for interpretation. But make no mistake, same-sex marriage and interracial marriage are one of the same coin when it comes to conservatives. When one goes, the other is surely to fall next.

Banning interracial marriage in 2025 sounds absurd, but it’s only absurd because we barely remember a time when it was prohibited. If we don’t learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it. They want to make America great again, but when do you think it was great for them? Yep, when you had no rights and could only do what you were told. Never forget.

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