Can intermarriage spare Americans from its identity politics?

Richard and Mildred Loving at their home in Central Point, Virginia, with their children (from left) Peggy, Donald and Sidney in 1967. – AP

THE boundaries of Americans’ partisan identities now predominantly overlap with the boundaries of our personal identities. As a result, American politics are now profoundly connected to questions of “who we are” and, not surprisingly, intransigent.

In researching the politics of six of the world’s “majority minority” societies – where one or more racial or religious minority groups have come to outnumber the majority group over time – I noted tribalised politics that can resemble our own. And I’ve found that whether their diverse communities coexist or conflict has a lot to do with the choices of governments and influential leaders.