“Loving” film about Loving vs. Virginia famous anti-miscegenation lawsuit

By
Carolyn Classen
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3
120

LOVING

loving_onesheet

STARTS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 at Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd. Tucson

“In Loving, acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols (Midnight Special, Mud, Take Shelter) celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown.

Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry—and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since. (Dir. by Jeff Nichols, 2016, USA, 123 mins., Rated PG-13)”

www.loftcinema.com

Carolyn’s note: Having grown up in multi-racial, multi-cultural Hawaii, I could not believe this case when I first read it in law school.  I had a Japanese American Uncle Nobu who married a Hawaiian/Caucasian woman (my Aunty Annie) so I sensed the racism behind these cases of inter-racial marriage, but not to the extent of hatred exhibited on the U.S. Mainland against Black/White relationships.

Arizona did not allow inter-racial marriages either, and had to be challenged in court in 1959 by Tucsonans Japanese American educator Hank Oyama and his white wife Mary Ann Jordan. They prevailed in 1961 when the Arizona legislature repealed the anti-miscegenation law.  My previous post on Hank Oyama’s memorial service (obituary) from Tucsoncitizen.com: https://carolynclassen.wordpress.com/tag/anti-miscegenation-laws/

America has come a long way since Loving vs. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia

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Carolyn Classen
Carolyn Classen
Carolyn Sugiyama Classen, a life long Democrat, was born & raised in the State of Hawaii, was a Legislative Aide for U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye on Capitol Hill, and practiced law for a while. In Tucson she worked as a tribal staff attorney for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe and later was the Interim Executive Director of the now defunct Domestic Violence Commission. In 2008 she became a “My Tucson” guest columnist for the Tucson Citizen newspaper, then continued blogging for Tucsoncitizen.com for over four and a half years. Her blogsite was entitled “Carolyn’s Community” about community events and some political news, until Gannett Publishing shut down the site on January 31, 2014. She started with Blog for Arizona on Feb. 11, 2014. Part time she has been sitting as a Hearing Officer in Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts Small Claims Division since April, 2005. She is married to University of Arizona Distinguished Professor Albrecht Classen, a native of Germany. They have one son, who lives in Seattle, WA with his wife and daughter. She is also the Editor of the Southern Arizona Japanese Cultural Coalition website, www.southernazjapan.org (since Jan. 2013).

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3 COMMENTS

  1. Full house today in theater 3 of the Loft Cinema to see this true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, who married in D.C. then moved back to Virginia, not know of their miscegenation law. Jailed & then forced to move to D.C. the couple has 3 children, then moved back to Virginia and with the help of ACLU attorneys, took their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Times have indeed changed since Loving v. Virginia, and it took American society a long time to accept inter-racial marriages. My husband and I lived in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the early 80’s and some people still hadn’t accepted this concept. Hopefully it’s better now. Go see this movie, and rejoice this landmark decision of 1967, during the Civil Rights era.

  2. We saw this a week or so ago. It was worth every minute. Really an incredible story. I know producers and screenplay writers take editorial license when making movies out of true stories, but my sense was there was less of that in Loving.

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