A Summer of Loving

It would be remiss of me to let June disappear without acknowleding Loving Day. Usually celebrated around the 12th, it is a celebration commemorating the Supreme Court decision striking down miscegenation laws. As the proud father of four biracial daughters, as you can imagine I’ve got a bit invested in that idea.

There’s still a ways to go, though. Even though the decision was made back in 1967, I had a relative say, upon hearing of my marriage “But what about the children?” A quarter century later I am happy to reply “They’re doing fine, thanks.” I believe that relative was honestly concerned, because in their world children of mixed skin tones (“mixed-ancestry” makes no sense to say, after all) were subject to horrendous abuse.

It hasn’t been horrendous, but there have been moments. Like the Hispanic girls who told my twins they were Hispanic, too, because they’d never heard of this “Filipino” thing. Or, more recently, when middle daughter was filling out a college application and there was no “mixed-race” option. When she asked if she could check both “white” and “Asian”, she was told no. She had to pick one.

Which would you pick, in similar circumstances? Who is “more” her parent, me or her Filipina mother?

I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that the world could do with more love, loving children regardless of heritage, loving unions regardless of gender, and loving thy neighbor regardless of politics. So as June comes to an end, marking the anniversary of loving marriages both legally and personally significant (let’s not forget Kent & Mary Miller’s, after all!) I hope you’ll find some ways to let more of it into your own life.