I dare you….to love

Hello All,

These past few months and weeks have been lifechanging on so many fronts. We are dealing with so many important issues in addition to this lingering pandemic. It has been a time of introspection, conversation and, hopefully, great change.

Kelly Clarkson released a new song during this time called “I Dare You“…..to love. She released the song in several versions. My favorite is the one where she sings with five international singers in six languages – Hebrew, French, Spanish, German, Arabic and English. There is also a version with corresponding translation in American Sign Language. I think this is so timely, because now, more than ever, it is time to love.

This song also seemed important to me because June 12th was National  Loving Day. Loving Day celebrates the 1967 landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court to strike down state laws banning interracial marriages. Did you know this important case started in Virginia?

Mildred Delores Jeter was of mixed descent, African American, Indian and Portuguese. Richard Perry Loving was Caucasian. Theirs was a true high school sweetheart story. The couple met in high school and fell in love. In June 1958 the pair married in Washington, D.C. The laws in Virginia at that time prohibited their marriage.

In the early morning of July 11, 1958, the couple was sleeping when the  police breached their home and arrested them. Their crime was violating Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 which made illegal the marriage between people who were classified as “white” and those who were classified as “colored”. Also the theory was if they were arrested in the early morning they might be caught having sex, because interracial sex was also illegal in Virginia.

On January 6, 1959 the couple pled guilty “to cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth”. They were sentenced to one year in prison. That sentence was suspended if the couple agreed to leave Virginia and not return for a minimum of 25 years.

After years of separation from their families, the couple appealed their conviction to the Supreme Court of Virginia. This court upheld their conviction. They then appealed to the United States Supreme Court. On June 12, 1967, the United States Supreme Court issued their unanimous decision – with Chief Justice Earl Warren as author – in the favor of the Loving’s and overturned their convictions. This brave couple and this decision also set the stage for future laws providing the rights for same sex marriages.

Talk about daring to love!

It is true that love conquers so many things. We are truly all in this together!

I will end with the words of Mildred Loving. On the 40th anniversary of this landmark decision in June 2007, Ms. Loving issued this statement:

“My generation was bitterly divided over something that should have been so clear and right. The majority believed what the judge said, that it was God’s plan to keep people apart, and that the government should discriminate against people in love. The older generation’s fears and prejudices have given way, and today’s young people realize that someone loves someone they have a right to marry.

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don’t think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the ‘wrong kind of person’ for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have the freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people’s religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people’s civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud of 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 that freedom to marry for all. That’s what Loving, and loving, are all about.”

I dare you to love,

Phyl