Can interracial.marriages work

Xan: In my presentations to the community, I often list everything that refugees usually go throughstatelessness and forced migration, violence, war. This population faced an additional challengeevacuation, an additional trauma. At IINE, were not used to receiving evacuated populations who have had no time to prepare and process their resettlement. Afghan evacuees did not prepare for resettlement and I think that that in itself has created another layer of suffering. We are meeting many Afghans who do not have a sense of refugee identity. Evacuees made a life or death decision to evacuatea lot to process in just a short amount of time. And weve heard the actual evacuation itself was horrible and traumatic. People rushing the airports and tarmacs and getting trampled, getting pulled over barbed wire fencing to reach an airplane, some people making it onboard and others not and families separated.

More than half of interracial and interethnic married couples surveyed in a University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) study thought that things had gotten better for such couples in our society over the five-year period from 2017 to 2022.

Afghan evacuees were air evaced from Afghanistan to a third country, and this step added to the complexity of their resettlement process. From overseas bases, evacuees were flown to Dulles Airport in Virginia and then dispersed to military bases in the U.S. A shuffling between U.S. bases in multiple countries is not the typical refugee experience, and when they arrived at U.S. bases, most lacked processing documentation. Lack of documentation impacted evacuees sense of securitythey did not enter the country with traditional refugee documentation, work authorization, etc. The U.S. government didnt really know who they were and they had to go through months of processing on U.S. bases to generate critical documents. On the U.S. military bases, families struggled. Even if they had shelter, heat, and food that they could eat, for some there was so much dust in the air, their children had asthma attacks.

I (LLC) interviewed Alexandra Xan Weber, International Institute for New Englands (IINE) Senior Vice President for Advancement. IINE was founded in 1918, and is a non-profit social service organization that serves refugees and immigrants through resettlement, education, livelihoodcareer advancement and support for the journey toward citizenship. Responsible for resource development, advocacy, and strategic initiatives, Xan oversees the organizations fundraising, institutional partnerships, advocacy initiatives, and strategic planning. She began her career at IINE in 2008 as IINEs Director of Community Services, managing the Boston sites refugee resettlement program, various victim services projects, and behavioral health services. IINE is an affiliate of the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and one of the nine national networks contracted with the U.S. Department of State to resettle Afghan evacuees. In 12 weeks, IINE resettled over 450 Afghan evacuees throughout New England.

These positive feelings persisted during a time that included a global pandemic, a rise in violent attacks and hate against Asian American-Pacific Islanders (AAPI), and the murder of George Floyd.

The 2022 survey of 413 partners in interracial and interethnic marriages was published in the December edition of Social Work Research. The paper, Interracial and Interethnic Marriages: Given Recent History, Have Things Been Getting Better?, is part of a larger series of collaborative mixed-methods intermarriage research authored by Greif, private clinician Victoria D. Stubbs, LICSW, LCSW-C, and retired UMSSW professor Michael E. Woolley, PhD, MSW.

However, the study found that constant exposure to such tragic events and trauma can take a toll on these marriages, which these couples are likely navigating during the latest cultural and political shift.

As Valentines Day approaches, interracial and interethnic married couples are optimistic about their relationships in America despite ongoing societal challenges. More than half of interracial and interethnic married couples surveyed in a University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) study thought that things had gotten better for such couples in our society over the five-year period from 2017 to 2022.