If affirmative action policies induce more exposure of whites to minorities on the job, then this can theoretically improve race relations making these policies only necessary in the short run. However, it has been argued that affirmative action policies can have negative long-term consequences on the minorities they are designed to help if the policies result in resentment among members of the majority group. This paper explores the broad relationship between affirmative action policies and race relations by examining how interracial marriage patterns -- a readily available measure of race attitudes -- change in response to the enactment of state affirmative action laws. Specifically, this paper exploits time and state variation in initiating affirmative action laws along with fact that state affirmative action policies directly affect only public-sector employees. Using a triple difference model, I find that the probability of a white male having a black wife increases by 0.07 percentage points in response to being exposed to affirmative action policies given when he married, where he lives, and whether he is a public sector worker. Results for black males are sensitive to estimation technique. Furthermore, interracial marriage decisions for females, regardless of race, are not affected by state affirmative action policies. Taken together, these results suggest that affirmative action laws improve race relations but with important gender and racial differences.