Tuesday, January 24

Black and white

I've been thinking about black and white a lot this weekend for many different reasons:

  1. Because I was using my new black and white cups while wearing my snazzy new outfit with the striped petticoat/underskirt.

  2. My Big Sister has become addicted to the musical Hairspray and listens to the catchy soundtrack whenever possible.

  3. Momma and I were looking at the very moving photos of Richard and Mildred Loving last week.
The Lovings were an interracial couple who married in 1958 in Washington, D.C., and were criminally charged under a Virginia statute banning such marriages when they returned home. The Lovings filed suit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union seeking to overturn the law. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor in 1967, striking down all state anti-miscegenation laws as unconstitutional violations of the 14th Amendment.

He was killed (and she lost an eye) in 1975 by a drunk driver.

On June 12, 2007, Mildred Loving issued a statement on the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision.

Her statement concluded:

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight, seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Mildred Loving died of pneumonia in 2008 in Virginia.


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