June 12th is an unofficial holiday in the United States, but is one of the most important days for a number of couples. If not for this day, those couples would not be together. If not for this day, their children would have never been born. What does this mean, and why is this day even necessary?

A Sad and Dark History

For most of the history of the United States, and some would argue for the entire history of the United States, people have been divided by their racial identity and/or skin color. In a number of states, this meant that there were separate and unequal facilities for people considered to be White and for everyone else. In other words, those who were White were considered better than those who were not White. This was the law in many areas of the United States. This went as far as to say that a man and a woman who were of different races could not get married in many states. If they tried to get married, they would be denied a marriage license.

Side Note: In some areas, if a Black man and a White woman were in love with each other and it was discovered that they two of them had sex with each other, even if they said they were married, it would be considered rape on the part of the Black man. The fact that a Black man was considered to have raped a White woman lead to a number of Black men being killed either by law enforcement or by angry mobs. For those who practice such killings, many felt that a non Black woman who had sex with a Black man was defiled and dirty. Sadly, a number of people still have this attitude, even in the Asian American community. Some Asian American men have even been quoted as saying that an Asian woman who dates a Black man “shouldn’t be allowed to date an Asian man after that”.

What is Loving Day?

Loving Day is a day where multi-ethnic couples remember the story of the Loving family. They were a couple where the husband was White and his wife was Black. Their marriage was considered to be a crime, so they were each sentenced to a year in prison for marrying each other. That’s right, marrying someone of a different skin color was a crime during 1950s America. After years of appealing the decision, it was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of the Lovings’ on June 12th, 1967. Yes, it really did take until 1967 for people of different skin colors to be able to get married anywhere in the United States.

The Aftermath

To this day, the decision reached by the Supreme Court has angered a number of people. Some have still tried to deny a marriage license to multi-ethnic couples to try and prevent them from getting married. The notion of such a marriage angers them, sometimes to the point of violence. Yet, many people look fondly at this day as a reminder that legalize racism is apart of modern history. On June 12th multi-ethnic couples will sometimes gather together to celebrate the fact that they are now legally able to marry and display their love for each other in public. For the children, they used this day to celebrate their legal ability to legally be born in the U. S. It’s truly sad that a law would have to be overturned for a man to marry a woman with a different skin color. But that’s the reality. And now you understand why June 12th is such an important day to so many couples in the U.S. So if you are apart of a multi-ethnic relationship in the U.S., you’ll know why on June 12th, people will wish you a happy Lovings’ day