It’s not exactly what you think. National Loving Day does celebrate loving - mixed-race-couple loving, specifically – but the day gets its name from Mr. and Mrs. Richard and Mildred Loving, whose court case against the state of Virginia led to the Supreme Court overturning the unconstitutional laws against “mixed race” marriages. (I feel the need to use quotes because the term seems so dated to me…maybe it’s because the term held so much venom I feel uncomfortable saying it?) A fact I find even more interesting: Mildred Loving was multi-ethnic herself, with Native American and African American heritage.
I know I’m lucky to live in an urban center on the West Coast where such multi-racial families are so prevalent. I have many friends who are kids of such relationships, or in a relationship of such themselves. It doesn’t seem like a big deal to me. But, I am totally white myself (whatever that means, really) and married a very pasty white guy. Our kids are really white. In fact, my youngest has white-blond hair (he’s a novelty to my Brazilian friends). I am not naive enough to assume we no longer struggle with this issue in America.
I was also encouraged by the fact that one of the current presidential candidates is a product of a mixed-race marriage himself. If we as a nation could put up for election a mixed-race man with black heritage (which I think is still harder for our country to swallow than, say, mixed-race Asian couples….but feel free to beat me up in the comments if you disagree!), then we have come far, indeed.
Along these same lines, the Forbes Most Powerful Celebrities list is topped by a black woman – Oprah Winfrey. She is followed by Tiger Woods, who has a multi-racial ethnicity. The top ten is pretty mulit-ethnic…but with the exception of Woods, I don’t see any other Asian celebrities listed. Latin/Hispanics are under-represented as well, with Alex Rodriguez being the only member of the top 25. So I’m encouraged by this news, but realize we still have a ways to go.
So, what do you think? Are you in a “mixed-race” relationship? Are you the child of a “mixed-race” couple? What have your experiences been? Have we come a long way? How far do we have left to go?