celebrating june 12th: love is love
Today, I am inspired.
I am inspired because two people, Mildred and Richard Loving, refused to back down.
When the police stormed in their house in the middle of the night and charged the Lovings with criminal activity—it was against the law to be married and be of different races—they stood tall.
They did not back down.
I am inspired because 47 years ago, Mildred and Richard Loving, two people who chose not to give up, won their battle.
Forty-seven years ago, the United States Supreme Court made a unanimous decision on June 12th, 1967 to declare that laws forbidding interracial marriages were unconstitutional.
Today, I am grateful.
I am grateful for their dedication.
I am grateful to be a biracial woman.
I am grateful for my heritage, and the lessons it has taught me.
I am grateful to finally be proud of my heritage.
Today, I am aware.
I am painfully aware that same-sex marriage is still illegal in many states.
I am aware that so many people say that same-sex marriage is unnatural.
But…people said that 47 years ago about Mildred and Richard, and other couples like them, who chose to marry outside of their race.
The Lovings knew that love is more than matching skin pigmentation.
Today, I am saddened.
I am saddened to see that lack of representation of interracial couples and interracial children in the media.
And when they are in the media, there’s backlash.
I am saddened because I am exactly half of two races, but I am still expected to choose a primary race. (Or it’s chosen for me.)
I am saddened by the fetishization of mixed race children — “we won’t recognize your race, but you are all pretty cute!”
Yet, today, I am hopeful.
I am hopeful for the future, because I am hopeful we can learn from the past.
“Mr. Cohen,” Richard Loving said to his lawyer during the trial. “Tell the Court I love my wife, and it is just unfair that I can’t live with her in Virginia.”
I am hopeful that interracial children will be able to look in the mirror at themselves and be excited and happy and proud that they are mixed.
I am hopeful that we will learn that love is love.
“I support the freedom to marry for all,” Mildred Loving once said. “That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”
Young Mormon Feminists 
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[…] Today, I am inspired. I am inspired because two people, Mildred and Richard Loving, refused to back down. When the police stormed in their house in… …read more […]