Loving
In honor of Black History month, I want to highlight a movie on Netflix that I found highly educational and enriching: Loving. It came out in 2016 but I didn’t know about it until recently and I found this movie beautiful as well as informative. There are a lot of events and historical moments that I realized I was never taught, simply because the American education system is evidently extremely bias. What we learn in school is always told from the America is great, rah rah rah perspective! I mean, we know that history is written by the victors, meaning it’s not based on objective facts, but rather the winner’s interpretation of how things went down. American history likes to force a certain narrative but truth be told, all these “great” things come at a cost. A lot of the times, if not all, comes at the suffering of a minority group.
I'm still learning today and every time I find out about a piece of history I've never heard of before, I try to read up on it and educate myself. For example, in recent years have I only found out about the Tulsa massacre and Juneteenth. This was never taught in history classes, despite my always taking AP/honors classes. But again like I said, bias. Only last year did I find out about the Lovings and how important their story is and how integral it is to how I am able to live the life I live today. The things we take for granted were once illegal and frowned upon in society. And in retrospect, it wasn't even that long ago that it happened. That could have been me.
If you were like me and unaware of the story of the Lovings, it’s about a white man named Richard Loving who married Mildred Jeter Loving, a woman of African American and Native American descent. Their interracial marriage in DC was deemed illegal in the state of Virginia where they lived and they were arrested and jailed for their relationship. The judge forced them to move out of the state and banished them for 25 years. They left but continued to travel back and forth due to having family in the state, and due to Richard’s mother being a midwife to help deliver their first child. They always had to sneak back in since it was illegal for them to be in the state, especially seen together. They were arrested again after their first child and left the state again for a brief time. Eventually growing frustrated being away from her family and watching history unfold in DC with the civil rights movement, Mildred writes a letter to Robert F Kennedy asking for help when he was an Attorney General. He refers them to the ACLU where two lawyers pick up the case and take it all the way to the Supreme Court and overturn all the remaining laws barring marriage in regards to race across the country. The Supreme Court ruled that laws against interracial marriage were deemed unconstitutional. I mean, I shouldn’t have to explain to you how huge this precedent was and is, and how it is important to my own life. Without the Lovings, simply speaking, my husband and I would not be here together today. The movie portrayal of these events I learned were very accurate, even down to the portrayal of Richard Loving, which I found interesting because his nature towards his wife is very similar to my husband. He’s a man of very few words and is very stoic regarding his relationship with his wife, but you can tell he loves her deeply by his actions and all that he does for her. Everything he does is for her and to make her happy. He was a very devoted husband who simply wanted to build a home for his wife in the town she wanted to raise her children in, near their family. Happy wife, happy life. I loved that when he refused to go to the Supreme Court to watch the lawyers present their case, they asked him if there was anything he wanted them to personally tell the court for him and he softly said “Tell them I love my wife.” This was symbolic of the entirety of the movie because Richard and Mildred Loving were not loud, boisterous people out to make a movement or a statement. They were a quiet couple in love, who wanted nothing more than to return home to live a quiet life in the country with their family and friends and not bother anyone. It’s symbolic of all marriages; two people in love who just want to exist, not hurting anybody. If you have the time, I truly recommend giving this movie a watch. I enjoy these movies because they are not only entertaining but also informative and a stepping stone to learn more after the movie is over. I find myself wanting to research and learn more. These are the monumental pieces of history we should have learned about in school.
Love is love is love is love.
Additional movies I recommend watching if you have the time:
When They See Us
Trial of the Chicago 7
Just Mercy
King Richard
Moonlight
Malcolm X
Movies on my list to watch next
Marshall
42
Selma
Do The Right Thing
12 Years A Slave
A Ballerina’s Tale