Today Is Loving Day.
An annual celebration held on June 12, the anniversary of the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia which struck down all state anti-miscegenation laws (legal laws that banned interracial marriage and intercourse) remaining in sixteen U.S. states.
The first anti-miscegenation law was enacted in 1691 in Virginia and specifically banned marriage between White and non-White people, i.e. mostly Black and Native American people. They were later reinforced during Reconstruction in the Black Codes, laws created to govern and restrict newly establish Black freedoms. After World War II, as a result of mass immigration, many states repealed these laws but there were still 16 states who had these laws by the time 1967 rolled around.
It’s mindboggling to think that it was only 53 years ago (my dad is 53), interracial marriage was illegal. But it’s a key milestone of American history and one that I’m thankful for because, without the banning of this law, I might not be here. (At least not as the person I currently identify as.)
I share all this because, while there have been news specials and a movie made to tell the story of Mildred and Richard Loving and the events that led to their civil rights case being brought to the Supreme Court who then repealed this law… The story always ends right there as if a “happy ending”.
But for me, an American woman who identifies as mixed, multiracial, or multiethnic, I’ve always wanted to know happened afterwards with their kids.
How did the Loving’s mixed children find their way in a time where society wasn’t ready to accept what they physically and symbolically represented, regardless of changes in law? How did they deal with “mixed people problems” a.k.a. living and navigating the intersection of their conflicting identities and cultural heritages? How did they come to terms and find peace with how they identified them self from the inside out vs. how the world saw and identified them the outside in?
So many questions I wish I had an answer to growing up… Answers and truths that I’ve only, in the past 10 years of my life (I’m 33 now), have started to come to terms with for myself after some deep soul searching and years of self-assigned cultural research. Information gathering around the subject of ‘identity’ that still continue… Background knowledge that I hope will inform the work I’ll do when I eventually pursue my PhD (either in Cultural Studies, Performance Studies or Dance – still figuring out which focus to pursue).
With that said, today’s post marks the first of a series of posts around the subject of growing up mixed-race in America and why cultural preservation of the traditional arts for all cultures is essential in our current era of globalization, assimilation, and appropriation in pursuit of the ‘American Dream‘.
To write, talk and/or share visuals focused around Arts & Culture has always been a personal goal for this space. I updated my bio and created the Arts & Culture category when I did my redesign last December to prepare for this strategic shift but have been taking my sweet little time with actually rolling out content.
For me, Identity goes hand in hand with Arts & Culture because I have never felt more connected to who I wholly am and my mixed heritage than when I’m learning about, participating in, experiencing and supporting the traditional arts.
In the words of Michelle Obama from her book Becoming: “Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own.” And I’m looking forward to sharing more on this side of my story.
*** I wrote this post in early May and so much has happened over these past couple of weeks… To say 2020 will be looked back on as a year of enlightenment would be a massive understatement.
If you called me up on the phone, I would have alllll the words. But my mind and fingers aren’t quite working how they should to make sense and type up all the thoughts running through my head right now. #HesitantlyHopeful
So, instead, I think I will just close out by re-sharing words that I wrote four years ago about Why I Blog. Words that still hold true to this day:
“I Blog Because…
As a person of color, I don’t think there is enough representation of our diverse, cultural lifestyles in the blog world.
I don’t speak about politics and very rarely speak out on social issues online because I prefer for these conversations to happen face to face. But what I do share is masssssss amounts of imagery and the photos on this blog serve as my own form of visual protest.
– A protest against the stereotypes/constraints placed around me based on my outside appearance.
– A protest against the stereotypes/ constraints placed around my husband based on his outside appearance.
– A protest against the stereotypes/constraints placed around my family and friends based on their outside appearances.
The images I share serve as a way to show that we are human beings who have just as much a right to live our lives to fullest as the next person.
I can’t control the media and their negative coverage, I can’t control other people and their ignorant thoughts. But what I can control is this blog and the content I share so that it rightfully represents the beauty, realness and joy of the people I love and care about.
And so… In moments when I don’t feel like blogging, I remind myself that I have to show up and represent because no one can represent my unique perspective in this world better than me, myself and I.”
Wishing you a restorative weekend.
xo, Setarra
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