January 7,
1959
I’m following
what the papers been writing about that couple from Virginia, the Lovings. It’s
hard not to follow when they’re headlining every paper ‘round. What I’m getting
at is the two were married in D.C. ‘cause there ain’t no law ‘gainst it there but
then moved back to Virginia. Didn’t they know that in Virginia their marriage wasn’
gonna fly? Virginia is under strict code, has been for centuries, and this code
is made to keep the whites and the blacks from mixin’. They have to know as everybody knows that Jim
Crow got his hands gripped tight round the South. They shoulda stayed in D.C.
where no one would mind what color they are but now they in deep with the law.
Just yesterday the two confessed guilty to violatin’ the interracial marriage
ban and were given a year in the state penitentiary. I read that the only way
for them to not go to jail is to leave the state. I don’t know what they are
gonna do next, but if it were up to me I would get myself out of Virginia. I agree
that the law needs to be changed but the way them folks going about it makes me
uneasy. Not everyone is acceptin’ of change. All I sayin’ is that these two had
been arrested for gettin’ married, not like they robbed a bank or stole an automobile, but
it’s gonna take a lot for people down south to change the way they think. They
been raised to believe that there ain’t no way a black girl and a white man are equal ‘nough
to go on a get married and I don’t think that their mind is gonna change
anytime soon. I am gonna keep on readin’ ‘bout these Lovings in the papers and I
wish them the best. Who knows what could happen? Maybe this could be one of
them landmark events that they teach kids ‘bout in the classrooms someday. I just wish them safety, wouldn’t want for them what happened in Arkansas
with them students just tryin’ to go to school and gettin’ the near crud kicked
outta them. Wonder whats gonna happen, but ‘til then, I’ll be readin'!
