The Lovings

Half-black, half-Indian, she had the gall to fall
in love with Richard Loving, only 17 and ignorant
that in Virginia, what they'd done was criminal. Bright
flashlights in their eyes beside their bed at 4am, and
taken into custody, they left their families and friends
to stay within the law until she wrote to someone whom
she hoped would listen and take on the case. The highest
court in all the land agreed that man may marry woman,
race ignored, and live in peace, whatever else the state
may want or have to say. So all the couples who found
freedom owe it to the sweet and country woman Mildred
with the quiet husband at her side, who humbly asked for help,
whose voice was heard around the nation, and the world.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014

"The Loving Story" is on Netflix, and well worth the hour and 17 minutes. A documentary, you will quickly become a part of the lives of this Virginia couple who took their love all the way to the Supreme Court, and forever changed the face of America. It would have happened eventually, with or without the Lovings, but they are so sweet, so plain, so hopeful. There was no anger, no diatribe against The Man or government, or even the hateful sheriff who arrested them. They loved each other and felt it their right as American citizens to live wherever they wanted to, to raise their children near their families and friends. Great story.