Another day to remember in June.
The Loving case started in rural Caroline County, Va., about 100 miles south of the District (of Columbia). Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter were young people in love. She was just 18. She was black and he was white. They traveled in 1958 to the District, where interracial marriages were legal, took their vows, came home and, at 2 a.m., were arrested in bed by deputies. They were prosecuted and sentenced to a year in jail. Caroline County Circuit Court Judge Leon Bazile suspended the sentence -- so long as the couple left the state and did not return together for a quarter-century.
“Almighty God created the races, white, black, yellow, Malay, and red and placed them on separate continents, and but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend the races to mix,” Bazile ruled.
The Lovings moved in exile to the District. And then they sued. It was not until 1967, 13 years after Brown v. Board of Education ended segregated schools, that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the law.
Richard Loving was killed in a car accident in 1975; Mildred Loving, now in her late sixties, still lives in Virginia but rarely gives interviews.
“Since the older generation is dying,” she told The Post in a 1992 interview, “the younger ones . . . realize that if someone loves someone they have a right to marry.”
June 12th is Loving Day
According to LovingDay.org, a website dedicated to the celebration of the legalization of interracial couples, there are 3 million mixed marriages in the United States. Every year Loving Day is celebrated around June 12 to mark the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that all anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional.
Ken Tanabe, a “Belgian-Japanese” American, who wanted to educate people about race, the law and politics in America, started Loving Day seven years ago. 2007 was the 40th anniversary of the landmark decision and large celebrations were held across the country.
“Loving Day is about fighting prejudice through education, connecting cultures, and creating a sense of community among people that engage in meaningful intercultural relationships. The annual Loving Day celebrations commemorate Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial relationships in America. The project uses digital media to provide educational resources and to encourage people nationwide to host their own celebrations on the Sunday closest to June 12th. Loving Day teaches people about the history of interracial couples in America. Loving Day Celebrations are an annual tradition that will one day make the Loving case a universally recognized civil rights landmark.” states the Loving Day website.
Mr. Tanabe, who is now 33, said in an interview for the magazine Village Voice, that he gets hate mail from white supremacists. He said that prejudice still exists today and that he hopes that his grassroots efforts will grow into a national movement. Mr. Tanabe expects people to accept Loving as a civil rights issue and that they will celebrate it like Juneteenth is celebrated.
For more information about Loving Day, go to:
lovingday.org
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