Mildred and Richard Loving
Back ,a little over a decade ago, my wife was working in a hotel across the street from my job. I would bump into her every now and again, but nothing serious. One night I was going home and stopped at her work to say hey. She asked me to drive her to pick up dinner. I took her to the local fast food drive-thru and back. She gave me a thank you peck and said good night. Later that evening we met up again and ended up talking the night away. What a beginning to a loving relationship.
Not that unusual except I am Italian/Greek and she is Jamaican, African, and Cherokee. I have white olive drab skin, and she is dark chocolate. We are a very multicultural couple. In Virginia Beach today, we are well accepted, but still turn a whole lot of heads. Virginia Beach is very tolerant of multicultural marriages due to the military influence. Forty-five years ago, though, we would have been arrested and put in jail.
That is what happened to Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving. In 1958 they were living in Caroline County, Virginia and decided to get married. It was illegal for them to do so in Virginia as Mildred was black and Richard was white. They traveled to Washington, D.C. where interracial marriage was legal. They subsequently moved back to Virginia where one night they were arrested. They were given the choice to spend one to three years in prison or move out of the state for 25 years. The couple decided to move back to Washington, D.C., but became weary of the racism and became homesick. They sent a request to the attorney general, Robert F. Kennedy, who finally heard the case. It ended up in Supreme Court and in 1967, Chief Justice Earl Warren decided that marriage is an individual right protected by the 14th amendment and cannot be dictated by individual states, making interracial marriages legal. My wife, children and I thank you for fighting.
As with all civil rights movements, many states were slow to adopt the new laws. It was not until 1998 that South Carolina removed from its constitution this clause prohibiting "marriage of a white person with a Negro or mulatto or a person who shall have one-eighth or more Negro blood." Twenty-Two percent of voters did not want the clause removed. Alabama did not change their constitution until 2000 removing this clause, "The Legislature shall never pass any law to authorize or legalize any marriage between any white person and a Negro, or a descendant of a Negro."
This is not a case your children will learn about in school. Their history of civil rights movement tends to be limited to Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech", Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad, Rosa Park’s Ride on the bus, and Brown vs. The Board of Education. These topics are usually only glanced at during Black History month. My children and all other interracial, multicultural, and multiheritage children should be taught this court case. It teaches tolerance and love, but school systems seem to be afraid to teach history that may offend. That is why every year around the 12th of June, there are educational Loving Day celebrations.
These celebrations were started in New York City as a graduate student thesis project. The graduate student, Ken Tanabe, stumbled upon the Loving case on Google. He is a multicultural individual and had never been taught this case. The lovingday.org website went live in 2004. Today there are hundreds of Loving Day celebrations around the country. This weekend there are celebrations in Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, Barcelona, Tokyo, and my home.
Go to Lovingday.org for more information on starting your own celebration.
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