Today (June 12 2020) is "Loving Day", the 53rd anniversary of the day that the U.S. Supreme Court banned laws against interracial marriage. I myself was directly affected by the Supreme Court decision that resulted in Loving Day.
I entered into marriage in 1971 with a woman of oriental Japanese ancestry. I was in the U.S. Air Force at the time and was due shortly afterwards to move on to a new place of assignment. The Air Force allowed me to express my preferences for where I would like to be assigned, and if I wasn't needed elsewhere, and if there was an opening, they would grant me my choice. To my surprise, I was informed, in writing, that I was not allowed to express a preference for several locations in the southern United States because I had entered into an interracial marriage. This was due to the fact that many of the southern states still did not recognize or allow interracial marriages, and my marriage to an oriental woman was considered to be interracial. The Air Force said that even though the Supreme Court had declared interracial marriages to be legal, there was still a lot of other racist laws that, while not directly banning interracial marriage, still created legal penalties for interracial couples. There was also a history of hostile racist feelings and actions by the populations of such states against servicemen who happened to be in an interracial marriage. The Air Force told me that as a matter of policy they did not assign any of their personnel who happened to be married to a person of another race to such locations because the racist climates there caused all kinds of public relations troubles and racist reactions from the local citizens. Needless to say, my next assignment was not located in the southern part of the United States.
Even though the "Loving vs Virginia" Supreme Court decision had eliminated bans on interracial marriage in 1967, several years passed before it was fully implemented, ... as my experience shows. In looking back, I was lucky to have come from Ohio, where I returned after my enlistment in the Air Force expired. Even though my wife and I still experienced a few other racist attacks there too, we were at least allowed to have a legal marriage and were accepted by most.
I entered into marriage in 1971 with a woman of oriental Japanese ancestry. I was in the U.S. Air Force at the time and was due shortly afterwards to move on to a new place of assignment. The Air Force allowed me to express my preferences for where I would like to be assigned, and if I wasn't needed elsewhere, and if there was an opening, they would grant me my choice. To my surprise, I was informed, in writing, that I was not allowed to express a preference for several locations in the southern United States because I had entered into an interracial marriage. This was due to the fact that many of the southern states still did not recognize or allow interracial marriages, and my marriage to an oriental woman was considered to be interracial. The Air Force said that even though the Supreme Court had declared interracial marriages to be legal, there was still a lot of other racist laws that, while not directly banning interracial marriage, still created legal penalties for interracial couples. There was also a history of hostile racist feelings and actions by the populations of such states against servicemen who happened to be in an interracial marriage. The Air Force told me that as a matter of policy they did not assign any of their personnel who happened to be married to a person of another race to such locations because the racist climates there caused all kinds of public relations troubles and racist reactions from the local citizens. Needless to say, my next assignment was not located in the southern part of the United States.
Even though the "Loving vs Virginia" Supreme Court decision had eliminated bans on interracial marriage in 1967, several years passed before it was fully implemented, ... as my experience shows. In looking back, I was lucky to have come from Ohio, where I returned after my enlistment in the Air Force expired. Even though my wife and I still experienced a few other racist attacks there too, we were at least allowed to have a legal marriage and were accepted by most.
