Do Nearly Half Of Mississippi Republicans Really Think Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal?

Because they’re backwards and they want to preserve their idea of an idealistic American South that never existed.

It is disgusting it is even asked on a survey. Is this survey used so candidates know what to talk about to appeal to voters? MS still has a great divide between blacks and whites, and so if any state was going to say something like this, MS would be one of them. Although illegal is farther than I would have guessed. Maybe if they had said they don’t think it is a good idea, but illegal? There was a case a couple years ago of a justice of the peace I think either in MS or LA that refused to do an interracial marriage, because, if I remember correctly, he cited children from the marriage would have too many difficulties and be at a huge disadvantage.

Just for clarification, I am not saying I personally think interracial marriage is a bad idea, I was only supposing what these racist people might say. I do think in a place where the communities are so separate, so culturally different, so economically different that it is understandable to be cautious that a marriage might have some difficulties having so many differences from the get go, but it is not really a race issue, it is a socio-economic issue, and each individual in the marriage is his own person, not necessarily weighed down by his family and community whether from the poorer group or the wealthier one. Certainly no one or entity should have any say whether two adults can be married, or hold any judgement. Again, disgusting.

Probably. I would bet nearly half of the people from Mississippi are Fundamental Christians that don’t believe in interracial marriage. I’m actually surprised it is not more.

Poll Fundamental Muslims and see what percentage would like to see it illegal to marry outside of their race. I would bet it is pretty high.

Flame away.

Welcome to the American South, there are people in some of Mississippi that still think the “The late, great unpleasantness” has not ended. The “States Rights” and “Tea Party” are strong in the South.

As the number of racists diminishes, the ferocity of those who remain grows. Moreover, Mississippi remains a stronghold for racial prejudice. It breeds there, and attracts racists from other parts of the country.

@missingbite Muhammad himself was a supporter of interracial marriage, and interracial marriage has been prevalent among Muslims for a very long time. The issue for them has always been whether or not Muslims are marrying other Muslims.

@missingbite – You seem to be conflating religion and race. Islam has many races within its fold, just like Christianity. I would suggest that many Muslims would be more concerned about marriage with infidels rather that with a believer of another race.

Seems like an interesting question in itself!

@SavoirFaire – oooh, beaten to it!

@gmander No worries. It deserves to be said twice.

My only reaction is: Wow. Unbelievable. Aren’t we living in the United States?

Do we have any jellies in Mississippi that can give first-hand knowledge on this issue?

I must say I’m quite shocked by that.

There are bigots everywhere, not just in the American south.
There are racial bigots and religious bigots and gender bigots just to name a few.
Some areas may be more tolerant of various forms of bigotry than other areas are, but no country or area has a monopoly on bigotry.

@MyNewtBoobs Both @JLeslie and I live about 20 minutes away from Mississippi. A fair amount of co-workers lived in Mississippi and worked in Tennessee. I’ve visited the state on numerous occasions for business. In my experience, a large portion of the state’s residents still maintain the mentality that they had over 100 years ago.

So, the question is ‘Why are they still like this?’ A perusal of The US Census Bureau website provides some possible insight by looking at statistics.
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2009 in MS is .9% compared to all of USA at 1.7%. Both percentages are small, but Mississippi’s is almost half of the US statistic.
Foreign born persons, percent, 2000 MS comes in with 1.4% and the US is 11.1%
High school graduates, percent of persons age 25+, 2000 MS – 72.9%, US – 80.4%
Bachelor’s degree or higher, pct of persons age 25+, 2000 MS – 16.9%, US – 24.4%

Here’s a heart-tugging report from one person in an interracial relationship and living in Mississippi.
Question: Racism Worries in Natchez, MS? (house, buy, school)
Answer: Just moving away from Starkville, MS, which is not too far from Natchez and being in a interracial marriage, my advice to you is to stay away from that area. There is a lot of racism in MS, whether it’s hidden on otherwise, it exist on both sides. The blacks resent the whites and the whites still feel that they are superior. Some blacks still act as though they still live on the plantation.

I left Starkville because of the racist and backwards attitudes. I heard comments from blacks saying that it is a sin to be in an interracial marriage. My daughter who is 8 was told by another student that he hated black people. I had a coworker at my job tell me to call him “Masta”, Don’t let anyone fool you. Although racism exist everywhere, in the South it is a lot more out spoken.

Source Note: There are many other posts that tell stories in the same vein.

These statistics and stories may or may not provide anything on why racism is still prevalent, but I think that they may help explain it. The main reason though seems to be that the government doesn’t do more to stop it, including the politicians, as the OP’s article shows.

That sounds about right for the region, and I think that Republicans everywhere need to do some serious damage control in order to keep this thing from becoming a stigma along with all of the other bad ones they have picked up over the years. Southerners too.

I lived in Mississippi (Biloxi) for about 4 months. I always heard the bad things about the south, and I figured, “It can’t be as bad as people make it out to be.”. I’ve caught people staring at me before, but when I was with my ex-wife (white woman) you didn’t have to catch some people: they wanted you to know they were staring at you and they didn’t even try to hide it.

A white marine was walking down the street, and some black guy just decided to talk smack to the guy at a stop light, ranting about how he feels white people “messed everything up”. Words and fists were exchanged lol.

There’s no point to my answer lol. I was just going to parrot the other answers, but a story is always fun.

Sure, they believe it. They have a vested interest in believing that white is right and black is disgusting. It’s sad. It’s not like some black person is demanding to marry them, so why is it their business which people adults marry? I will never understand why bigots always feel so threatened. Live and let live. But no, it’s not just the South.
__________________
When I was 15, a white boy at a forensics meet (in Sheboygan, WI, mind you) told me that blacks were losers, because if blacks weren’t losers, they would’ve been able to fight Europeans off from the beginning, or should’ve at least had the dignity to die trying. But since that didn’t happen, then slavery and being on the bottom of the social ladder forever was the fate that black people deserved. “I don’t even know how you ended up here [at the meet].” said he. “You can’t be that smart.”

I had to walk away before I hit him, but I didn’t even try to argue. There is no arguing with a person who wants to believe so badly that he is better than other people solely due to the colour of his skin.

What was scary yet fascinating about it until that last bit was the manner in which he told me. He “accused” me of being a “mulatto” and quivered the entire time he vented his little diatribe. It was as if he’d waited his entire adolescence to spew to an actual black person.

To your question, “Do Nearly Half Of Mississippi Republicans Really Think Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal?” the answer is “no”.

You could have determined this yourself if you had looked for a moment at the polling criteria to see that “Mississippi Republican primary” voters were surveyed, and then did a quick search to see How many Republicans voted in the 2008 Mississippi primary? (March 11) and then compared that number (143,286) to Republican voters in the 2008 general election (presumably somewhat more than half of 1.3 million total voters).

But if you prefer to think that nearly half of all Republicans in Mississippi (and by extension and association, Republicans everywhere) are cave-dwelling racists, then go right ahead.

@WasCy – Statistics not a strong point then? The point of polling is that is a sampling technique, not a complete census of the population. You might also have noted on this site that people initially ask questions, not make statements. But if you want to twist everything to suit yourself, then go right ahead.

So, please point me at the research that provides contra-indications to the original poll and justifies your assertion. Please note, I didn’t make any comment about my opinion of the poll, that was your presumption that I was agreeing with its conclusion.

I must say that given the tone of your posting, I am thinking that you have a suspicion that the ‘cave-dwelling racist’ tag has some merit! Methinks you protest too much.

My response would be “why are you surprised?” The state university has a confederate monument on campus, the state had white supremacist “citizen’s councils” in every community, of which the current governor recently endorsed. Mississippi is the most backward state in the union.

I would go as far to say that ALL Republicans are against it.

@zenvelo – Well, I don’t live in Mississippi. In fact I don’t even live in the USA, so the daily machinations of that state’s population is not something that I follow closely. Hence my surprise. Although I’m learning!

@ladymia69 you would be wrong.
As for the answer to this question, in my opinion, these polls have to be skewed.
I live in the South and believe me, there is racism present. I find it interesting that people automatically assume that the racism is on the part of white people, racism is present in both the black and white cultures in the South. I have friends whose skin is a different color than mine and both they and I get grief from those whose skin is the same color as ours for our choice in company.

@ladymia69 That would be going too far. I live in the South, though nowhere near Mississippi, and there are certainly Republicans here who couldn’t care less about the race of anyone’s spouse. In my city, most of the overt racism is actually aimed at Hispanics (who are presumed illegal until proven otherwise despite how far away from the border we are).

A woman I know who is from Mississippi, however, has told me that she can never go back now that she has had a child with a black father (she is white). According to her, the child might actually be in danger. I don’t know to what extent she may be exaggerating, but she must believe it on some level. Because despite how much she says she’d like to move back there, she adamantly refuses to do so now.

@gmander Not really conflating them at all. Just stating what I believe. I doubt that a white man who converted to Islam would be accepted to well if he tried to marry an Islamic woman in Pakistan. I may be wrong but I wouldn’t want to try.

@ladymia69 That’s not generalizing at all is it.

@missingbite One of my professors is a Pakistani woman married to a white man. It was no problem at all for them.

being on the bottom of the social ladder forever was the fate that black people deserved: well, @aprilsimnel, ever since my learning that the human species originated in Africa my feeling is that we Africans are survivors – better be a live dog than a dead lion, say I.

@SavoirFaire that is great. Are you in Pakistan or America and is your Professor a Fundamental Muslim? Does she follow the Koran closely? Or is she a moderate liberal?

@missingbite They were married in Pakistan, and the Muslims around them (radical or not) didn’t care. Given that the survey is about interracial marriage in general (and not about whether Republicans approve of other Republicans marrying people outside their race), that is all the information that is really relevant given the context of the question.

@gmander I’ve known fairly few Republicans or Conservatives with strong math skills.

I was -totally generalizing…sorry, y’all. I just don’t understand how anyone could be a Republican or disapprove of interracial couples. It’s beyond me. And @Tuesdays_Child , you’re totally right about racism on both sides. I live in the South too, actually in Charleston, SC, next to a port where thousands and thousands of slaves came through from ships on their way to the masters. There’s a definite bitterness that hangs in the sea air between the two races. Although in really bad sections of downtown Charleston, African-Americans are killing eachother every day over drugs and money.

@ladymia69 I completely understand your confusion about how people can disapprove of inter-racial couples, a persons skin color should make absolutely no difference to anyone about anything, period.
As for how someone could be a Republican, well, politicial beliefs are vastly different from racial issues. I don’t see that Republican or Democrat elected officials, on a national level, are doing anything for the people of this country, no matter what their skin color. Just my opinion though.

Same here. But republicans are just so damned arrogant about not caring about anybody but themselves…at least democrats pretend that they care. We’re doomed. Just doomed.

@ladymia69 And so obviously we whites wouldn’t want our sons and daughters marrying those savages ~

Just taking your sentence about African-Americans killing each other to demonstrate why people in the south don’t like the idea of mixed marriages. This type of generalization is overwhelmingly in their heads. I realize you don’t think this way, you were just stating a fact about the area.

@ALL A women I am friends with lived most of her life in MS and raised her son there. When he graduated school she gave him some advice about interviewing. “Shake the mans hand, look him right in the eye, and be able to carry on a conversation. Also know that he might be a black man you interview with or who you might wind up calling your boss.” I would never think it surprising a black person could be my boss, I found this so odd. This woman is not racist for a second, but she still has a mindset, and especially understands the mindset of the deep south.

@JLeslie Don’t twist my words. I don’t really get your sarcasm in the first line either. What are you even saying??

@ladymia69 I am not twisting your words. I am saying how the racists think, not you. All around me I hear white people talk about how the African Americans can’t be helped, do poorly in school, black on black crime, drugs, dropouts, and so of course they don’t like the idea of their children being a part of that community by association if they married into it. They also know black people who are good upstanding citizens, but there is still this stereotype that they would worry about. Do you think that is untrue?

I only believe these numbers, when there are three independent studies with representative surveys created by accredited statisticians.

Media love sensationalism.

I might believe that perhaps half of the people in the deep south frown on interracial marriage in 2011, but making it illegal is a different matter. It’s not the 60s anymore. And even people in Mississippi are watching Star Trek with plenty of interspecies mingling and sex.

So to answer your question: No.

Here is that case I mentioned above. It was in Louisana.

@mattbrowne While you’re correct that the media loves sensationalism, I think you overestimate people. We Americans love overreacting. Why merely frown on something like being gay, or Mexican, or a mixed-race couple when you can outlaw it? You seem to forget who we are talking about here.

Laws are to be made for the good of society. If people think it hurts society to have interracial marriages, it follows that they might want to outlaw it. This is one way they can rationalize it is not from a hateful place that they want it to be illegal. Of course, it is directly in opposition to how these same people say they want smaller government and individual liberties.

@JLeslie Let us not forget that when you have a minority that wants messed up laws and a majority that is too apathetic or uninformed to stop them, some messed up laws make it into the books as that vocal minority gets their way.

@jerv Of course that does happen. Who is the minority in your example? Black people or the white minority who is against interracial marriages. Or, are you just talking generalities about many different laws?

Why merely frown on something like being gay, or Mexican, or a mixed-race couple when you can outlaw it?

Yeah, let’s outlaw being Mexican !!!

I don’t think that it’s true.

I was watching Bill Maher this past weekend and one of the guests mentioned that the majority of people that were polled were 60 and over. This would make sense. The guest also mentioned that the outcome would most likely be different if younger people had been polled.

I know I’m just repeating what I heard and I’m not giving you the guests name (because I can’t remember who it was) but she made a good point.

@jonsblond For me thay would make the poll invalid, so that is iteresting. However, I was talking to a college student from Boston going to chool here in Memphis and she said she cannot understand how people her age can be so conservative and close minded. She was caught off guard when she first came here.

@JLeslie Generalities. The moral is that if you care you need to vote, and if you don’t care then we are all doomed.

@jonsblond The document linked in the question details gives the age distribution:

18 – 29: 12%
30 – 45: 20%
46 – 65: 36%
over 65: 32%

So the majority are in the middle ranges. As the guest could not possibly know how many of the people in the 46 – 65 range were over 60, I will assume she simply misspoke and meant “over 65.” Unfortunately, though, this would also be mistaken.

Regardless, the document contains a breakdown of the data by age. Here’s how the different demographics responded to the question about interracial marriage:

Age 18 – 29

Legal: 31%
Illegal: 54%
Not sure: 15%

Age 30 – 45

Legal: 48%
Illegal: 38%
Not sure: 15%

Age 46–65

Legal: 49%
Illegal: 39%
Not sure: 12%

Age 66+

Legal: 30%
Illegal: 56%
Not sure: 14%

As we can see, the oldest and youngest demographics are virtually the same, and both are more opposed to interracial marriage than the slightly more moderate middle ranges. Can’t say these facts really help at all.

@SavoirFaire You just made my day. I now have proof that someone from the left misspoke. I guess I can’t believe everything I hear on Bill Maher now. ;)

@jonsblond I don’t believe anything I hear from either side until I do a little fact-checking of my own.

@jonsblond Misinformation comes at us from left, right, and center almost 24 hours a day. I’m with @jerv on this one: fact check everything.

@SavoirFaire I agree. It was a joke. That’s what the ;) is for.

@jonsblond I get that. I just wanted to clarify that it’s more than the left misspeaking.

@SavoirFaire Jesus, it’s disheartening to see the 18–29 be as conservative as the oldest, and the middle ranges be the most liberal.

@MyNewtBoobs it’s also quite disheartening to see people in Fluther who you thought were smarter equating “conservatism” to “racism”.

Conservatism ≠ Racism

It’s disheartening to have to repeat this.

@WasCy Do you live in the South?

@WasCy While they are not equal, I can see how some people might draw the connection; I don’t know any racist Liberals, but I do know quite a few non-racist Conservatives. Based on my personal experience, I think it safe to say many racists are Conservative, but fairly few Conservatives are racist. Some people may see it as a direct correlation when it isn’t.

@WasCy I don’t think that @MyNewtBoobs was equating conservatism with racism. Opposition to interracial marriage can hardly be considered a liberal position, however; and insofar as conservatism is often characterized by a desire to return to the way things used to be, it is a conservative position. The important thing to remember is that people who call themselves conservatives need not be committed to every position that might be labeled as conservative from a technical standpoint.

@WasCy Conservatism doesn’t always mean racism, but racism almost always means conservatism. Conservatism means to conserve the way it has been, so wanting it to go back to being illegal would fit the very definition of conservatism.

Seriously, @WasCy , during the times of slave-owning, who do you think were highly indignant about not being able to own slaves? Conservative folks. Who were the ones generally against segregation before Civil Rights passed? I would guess the Conservatives (it just says it all in the word conservative). Do you think members of the KKK would call themselves Liberal?

You folks are whack. You have no idea what conservatism means – none.

@WasCy So then instead of just bitching about it, how about you enlighten us?

@SavoirFaire – If conservatism in the deep south were just a desire to return to the way things used to be, people there supporting it would have to take blacks back to Africa, return to Europe themselves, and give back the country to the natives. Now one could argue that returning to the way things used to be just people experienced in their own life. Well, this excludes segregated schools for large portion of the population. Yet many racists would just love to return to this.

I totally support @WasCy‘s view that conservatism ≠ racism

@mattbrowne perhaps that’s why conservatives tend towards creationism. If you were a conservative and believed in evolution, then how far would you want to rewind the clock, back to primordial sludge? Mud fights, yeah!

@gmander – Creationism was created in the 19th century, irrationally turning mythos into logos according to Karen Armstrong.

“Logos deals with the practical understanding of how nature works, and has long been used to advantage in, say, agriculture and technology. Although this mode of thinking, as exemplified by modern science, can satisfy our natural curiosity concerning objective matters, it cannot, as noted earlier, fully address our subjective concerns with ethical values, aesthetic judgments and any personal sense of identity and purpose in life, although it may inform our views on them. Such irrational needs have, throughout history, been ministered to by the various forms of mythos. The point of mythos, Armstrong argues, is not literal explanation, which is what logos provides, but – through symbols, sagas and rituals – to inspire a sense of seeing beyond mundane matters, so to invest life with meaning and value. Hence to expect mythos to furnish informative answers to questions that are properly the domain of logos, such as the origins of life’s diversity and adaptedness, and indeed of ourselves, is to confuse the psychological roles of the two modes of thought. Yet that is precisely the confusion to which creationists of various ‘fundamentalist’ denominations have succumbed, as an essentially modern – one might say paranoid – reaction to the ascendancy of science and retreat of religion over the last few centuries.”

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=398808&section=4

Educated conservatives don’t tend towards creationism.

@mattbrowne is correct.

@gmander You have that backwards; Creationists tend towards Conservatism.

Back in the days of slavery and segregation the southern democrats were the racists. They were still considered Conservatives I believe back then. They defected to the Republican party back in the 60’s I think? Someone correct me if I am wrong. Conservative, Republican, and racist are certaily not synonomous words, but pretty much if someone is a racist in the south, they are probably Repulican, and self identify as conservatives (I say self identify, because it seems the word conservative is being used differently now, and even Republican stands for different ideas and ideals than 50 years ago in my opinion). In no way do I mean all Republicans are racist.

I agree creationists tend to be conservatives, not the reverse.

I know plenty of Liberal Racists. They just get a pass because the pretend to be better and smarter than Conservatives. That doesn’t change the fact they are racist.

@missingbite Do you think you know liberals who would be against interracial marriage?

@JLeslie Sure I do. Unless you believe that only white people can be racist then there are plenty of people who are considered liberal yet get a pass on being racist even though they are.

@missingbite I’m not sure I understand your answer. I am sure there are liberal people who still have some racist thoughts or may act in a racist way, but that they would actually want a law forbidding interracial marriage seems very unlikely to me. Also liberal, like the word conservative is used in all sorts of ways now, so who knows if we are even thinking about the same people. You say not only white people can be racist, which I agree, so let’s say we are talking about another race or ethnicity, black, Asian, Hispanic, people, and they are against interraial marriage, I don’t consdier them liberals, but they might be Democrats, since we all seem to be using political descriptive words. A lot of black people around me are socially conservative and identify as Democrats.

@JLeslie I guess we are getting into an area that will be difficult to explain without writing a dissertation. Not all conservatives are racist. Not all liberals are. Some of each party, regardless of race, are racist. They may not even realize they are, but they are.

I have a friend that considers herself a liberal and in most areas of her life she probably is. However, during deep conversations she has admitted that she would never date a white person and looks down on black men who date white women.

While she is not exactly what I would call a racist because she doesn’t hate all white people (she and I are friends) she certainly has some racist beliefs and is against interracial marriage.

@missingbite But, against the law? Does she want to make it against the law? Does she want to stop others who might want it for themselves? I don’t think I would ever marry a religious Baptist, but I certainly don’t think it should be illegal, and I have no problem being friends with them.

@JLeslie I’ll have to ask her next time we are together. I know she doesn’t believe interracial couples should be able to have children.

Words have been changed or usurped for a long time. Also, words have always had different meanings for different people, especially in this era of sound bites. Someone could twist the fact that I wouldn’t date a black woman to mean I am racist when the real reason is merely that I am already married and just can’t imagine myself with anyone else.

@missingbite But, how do you stop them from having children? Are you going to throw them in jail? I use “you” in the third person, not you personally. It will be interesting to know what she thinks. I would guess there are a lot of people who think like her, but realize the law is probably not the way to go. I can see why in some communities interracial marriages and children of interracial couples have a harder time, and one might ask why subject oneself to such a thing, or subject children to the likely ridicule they will encounter. I think they should move.

@jerv That is also very true. GA! I think we have to look past words and get to the intent. The question would be if God forbid something happened to your wife, would you be open to marring outside of your race? Even if you say no, it would not mean you are a racist.

@JLeslie There is no good answer except that you can’t and shouldn’t. The real answer is education on both sides not to dislike someone for something so insignificant.

I’ll ask her and get back to you in a couple of days.

@jerv I don’t think that is what we are talking about. There are plenty of people who say they would not marry someone outside of their race or ethnicity who I don’t think are necessarily racist. But, I do think it is a symptom of cultural and economic difference between the groups, which can be an unfortunate reality. Well, not necessarily cultural differences, but the economic differences can be unfortunate.

How many blacks are against their kids marrying white folks?

@mattbrowne My guess is more than you might think. Talking from an American perspective.

But illegal? Illegal is a whole different thing to me.

@JLeslie My point with that post was that “racist” means different things to different people, with the implication that the same is true of “Liberal” and “Conservative”. I thought w were talking about labels and the associated stigmas.

@missingbite Personality matters more to me than shape or color if that’s what you mean. After all, we are all humans. My only restriction is a rather strong preference for females.

@jerv Oh. I agree with that, labels mean different things to different people.

@mattbrowne I have to ask you once again to actually read my answers before responding to them. I did not say that conservatism = racism. My point was that I don’t think anyone was saying otherwise (including @MyNewtBoobs). If that is not clear enough, here it is spelled out for you: I, @SavoirFaire, hereby state that I do not think that conservatism = racism; and furthermore, I hereby state that conservatism ≠ racism.

As for the extent to which some conservatives wish to return to the way things used to be—or how cultural myths say things used to be—I never said that such sentiments make sense. That’s a problem for the them, however, and not a problem for me. Moreover, I purposely used the words “insofar as” because I realize that such a sentiment is neither universal to nor the whole of conservatism. It’s simply one way that it manifests itself in the public arena. As such, your point about returning people to Africa or Europe is entirely a non sequitur. Of course, it’s a non sequitur anyway, because those who hold such reactionary sentiments wish to return to a specific time, not as far back as is possible.

Thanks for the clarification @SavoirFaire !

@mattbrowne Looking back, I realize my earlier post really may not have been as clear as I thought it was. The most recent post, then, is probably a bit more trenchant than is warranted. Sorry about that.

@JLeslie I asked my friend if she thought it should be illegal and she said no. She did say however that she has no desire to be friends with interracial couples as she feels it is degrading to her race. Her words, not mine. She also feels it is a hardship on children. She is light skinned and says she was teased as a child even though both of her parents were black.

@missingbite Thanks for coming back to the Q with that information. I find her views unfortunate. The more separate we are, the more separate we will be. Ironically her negative experience being light skinned is prejudice within her black community. Black people tend to pay attention to how light or dark way more than white people do. I am assuming she feels racism from the white community. In my opinion her way of doing things will just keep that going longer. Separate but equal was never equal.

@missingbite – …light skinned and says she was teased as a child even though both of her parents were black.: What a pity. Even as a child I observed that there were black Warners and white Warners, black Hoseins as well as brown (East Indian) and white; not to mention the Changs and the Soo Pin Chows; and quite often in the same family. It makes for fairly interesting relationships in Trinidad and Tobago (and it may be a partial explanation for the fact that my elders are quite reticent about certain passages in our family history).