'50% UK Asians reject mixed-race marriage'

LONDON: Nearly half of British Asians would only marry someone of their own race, according to an ICM-BBC survey on Monday.

A total of 44% said they would not consider inter-racial marriage — almost five times higher than the figure for white Britons, of whom 9% said they would only marry within their race. But 53% of Britons with Asian origins said they would not mind a mixed-race marriage, compared to 87% for whites.

The survey probed 500 people aged under 34 living in UK who had roots in South Asia.

Oops, yes, thank you. Bad mistake on my part not to say something about that. You'll have to forgive me; I'm an American and we have different names for these various groups and nationalities.

I know when Brits refer to South Asians they are talking about Arabs, Bangladeshis, Iranians, etc. But they are also referring to Indians, which I knew but neglected for the reasons below.

But first, in my defense, and I know YOU haven't made the charge (but someone whom I shall not name came pretty darn close), that oversight does not make me a racist. My only point in all this was that muslim-nonmuslim marriages are for crazy people, not that interracial marriages in general are for crazy people. That's all I meant by it. Only that, and I apologize if anyone took it any other way.

Finally, what was this article about? What prompted the author to write it? Was it to educate and inform the public about the bad mojo that's going to come down on your head if you, a white Brit, marry a Hindu from New Delhi? No, I don't think so. There are thousands upon thousands of such marriages, which are successful and happy marriages. And they don't make the news.

There is only one kind of marriage between white Brits and South Asians which is in the news of late, which is a natural disaster waiting to happen, which everyone is thinking about, which everyone is reading about, which you'd have to be insane to enter into, and that is, my friend, a marriage between a muslim and a nonmuslim, in this case, white Brits.

If I'm guilty of anything it's reading between the lines, not racism.

That’s right. Afghans would be Asians, too.

(Though a police report - for example - might say a middle easterner was ‘of Asian or middle eastern appearance’, as it’s difficult to tell somebody’s nationality by sight alone.)

Don’t worry, it even confuses us Brits sometimes!

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