Image Credit: Focus Films
Happy Loving Day! June 12 is Loving Day, the anniversary of the 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling, the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage. Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the ruling. Should Loving Day be a national holiday? This year, there’s an online petition being circulated to make Loving Day a federal holiday. From the website:
There are 22 million multiracial Americans (6.9% from Pew Research), comparable to the Asian American population (5.6%), and growing 3 times faster than the U.S. as a whole.
There are 32 million interracial or interethnic married couple households (10% from the U.S. Census). Those numbers have grown 28% over a decade.
Despite those numbers, we have struggled with racial discrimination from all sides. We have been underrepresented in public policy, health care issues, media, and more. We ask the federal government to lead the change by acknowledging us.
We honor Loving v. Virginia, the 1967 Supreme Court decision that ended laws against multiracial families. Please join our community, government leaders, and organizations by celebrating its June 12th anniversary as Loving Day.
You can sign the petition here.
Also, the film Loving — directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Joel Edgarton and Ruth Negga — debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this spring. Loving will be released in theaters nationwide on November 4, but you can watch a trailer for the movie now…
Follow #ThisisLoving on Twitter and Facebook/LovingtheFilm.
Yes. Yes it should.