In the law, some people become immortal through a case name. Most reach such immortality through stupid or savage criminal acts like Miranda or Gideon. In the case of Mildred Loving, the case name seemed to fit the principle precisely: she and her husband Richard fought for their right to marry and against the Virginia miscegenation laws. She died this week at 68.
Loving v. Virginia struck down one of the worst elements of segregration laws. The case became with a horrific scene of state intervention.
Mrs. Loving and her husband, Richard, were in bed in their modest house in Central Point in the early morning of July 11, 1958, five weeks after their wedding, when the county sheriff and two deputies, acting on an anonymous tip, burst into their bedroom and shined flashlights in their eyes. A threatening voice demanded, “Who is this woman you’re sleeping with?”
Mrs. Loving answered, “I’m his wife.”
Mr. Loving pointed to the couple’s marriage certificate hung on the bedroom wall. The sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.”
Mr. Loving spent a night in jail and Mrs. Loving was held even longer. They eventually pleaded guilty to violating the Racial Integrity Act. They agreed to leave the state and not return together for 25 years. Judge Leon M. Bazile noted in their hearing that if God had meant for whites and blacks to mix, he would have not placed them on different continents.
“ Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the races to mix.”
(Thanks to Mespo for this quote)
It was Mr. Loving who insisted years later that they challenge the law. The Supreme Court struck down the law in 1967 in a unanimous decision written by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Richard Loving died in a car accident in 1975.
For the full story, click here.
“Everyone must admit that if a law is to be morally valid as a ground of obligation, then it must carry with it absolute necessity. [One] must concede that the ground of obligation here must therefore be sought not in the nature of man, nor in the circumstances of the world in which man is placed, but must be sought a priori solely in the concepts of pure reason; he must grant that every other precept which is founded on principles of mere experience – even a precept that may in certain respects be universal – in so far as it rests in the least on empirical grounds – perhaps on in its motive can indeed be called a practical rule, but never a moral law.” (Immanuel Kant, Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, p. 389)
Translation:
“Mankind has not evolved an inch from the slime that spawned him.”
RIP Mrs. Loving.
In tribute to Mrs. Loving, I think we should all know about the truly magnanimous statement she issued on the 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia. The statement ends with these words that should serve as the epitaph on the tombstone of segregation:
“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 that same 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 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.”
Proof,I think, that we still produce heroes in my home State. Kudos to Bernard S. Cohen, Esq. and Philip J. Hirschkop, Esq who took on the State to defend this fine woman.
Mildred Loving RIP. Hail and Farewell. It took courage to take on the Virginia power structure in 1967.
Here’s a little time capsule statement from the “enlightened” trial judge, Leon Bazile, found in Wikipedia:
“ Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red, and He placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with His arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the races to mix.”
The Virginia Supreme Court apparently agreed, but the US Supreme Court did not.
Anyone still think that those were the “good old days”?