What Loving Day Means To Me

I am white and native american. I have friends and family members of all races, religions, and sexual orientations. About 5 years ago my job as an attorney in a State far away from my family and I ended up falling in madly love with this very charming airline pilot (a white guy). I have spent most of my life in school and with my job I worked about 70 hours a week, so I was finally ready to find my prince charming and settle down. We got engaged and although he had met my parents, he hadn't met my siblings or sister-in-laws.

On the list of people important to me, the people who top the list are my family, friends, and Mildred and Richard Loving. Not only are they inspirational in leading their fight for their right to marry somebody they loved, but they gave my parents the right to marry each other. My dad is black and my mom is white, and they were married in 1981 in Washington. Yes, Washington had already legalized interracial marriage in 1967, but had my parents traveled to 16 of the other states in the country without Mildred and Richard's help they would not be recognized as married.

I remember one of my first conversations about race relationships (as opposed to race relations) was with my uncle, who was born in 1921. I was born in 1967, so I guess this conversation took place around 1977, when my uncle was in his mid-50s. He was recounting a story his father (born in 1877) told him as a youngster. His father (my grandfather) told him that it would be much preferable for any of his sons to "bring home" a black woman than to bring home a "white trash" woman.

Dear Loving Day family,

I am thrilled to announce that When Love Happens: The Loving Day Concert CD is being considered for Grammy nomination. This is the first CD ever recorded to commemorate Loving Day and to celebrate the legalization of interracial marriage.

Please show your support for the project by sharing it and its message with everyone you know. Visit www.sandrabooker.com, www.cdbaby.com/SandraBookerFriends, or www.myspace.com/sandrabooker.
Also, visit our online store for interracial greeting cards at www.whenlovehappens.com

Loving Day is important to me beacause I believe it is a day when people are encouraged to pursue love freely.
There is a boy who loves me deeply. We appreciate many characters of each other.I shall admit
that he is the one who I would like to create a family with. But the problem is that he comes from
ruralarea although we study together in high school in urbanarea. My mum and most of my friends

Because of two brave people in love, who had the persistence and courage to fight the system of injustice so many years ago, I have the right to fall in love and eventually marry the man of my dreams. R. is black and I am white. We have been friends for 5 years and falling in love took us both by surprise. He is my everything and is the first man I've had a relationship with that makes me want to be a better woman. He has integrity and I admire the content of his character. I never "planned" to fall in love or marry outside of my race, but I also never "planned" not to, either.

Loving Day to me means that I can marry the person that is perfect for me regardless of color or ethnic background. I love J so much and I can't imagine not being able to marry the man of my dreams someday. I am eternally grateful to those who have fought for this right for me.

On Saturday, June 13th, 2009, twenty singles and people in interracial relationships met up in the garden of our apartment in Oakland to grill up food, enjoy veggies from the garden, enjoy each others company, and to commemorate the Supreme Court decision that won us all the right to marry interracially. In a brief speech I gave some background about the Lovings and the battle they took all the way to the Supreme Court.

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I was born African American/Black. I believe that Racism & Prejudice starts in the home by parents and elders teaching young children to not play with or hang out with or specifically Not date or marry people of different skin color, races or nationalities. Also, it depends on what type of neighborhood a person is born into and grows up in.