Loving vs. Virginia

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Loving vs. Virginia Page 9

by Patricia Hruby Power


  of our sentencing.

  Then he laughs and says,

  “But I wasn’t even in law school yet,

  five years ago.

  Let me think about how to get this in the courts—

  find a hook—

  and I’ll call you. I think we can win this.

  It’s an important case,

  Mr. and Mrs. Loving.”

  Important.

  I nod again.

  RICHARD

  Why is it SO DIFFICULT?

  We just want to go home.

  MILDRED

  TWO MONTHS LATER

  NOVEMBER 1963

  Waiting

  isn’t easy.

  We just want a telephone call to come and say,

  “Okay, you can go back home.”

  What we do get is a call

  from Mr. Cohen

  saying he found the hook.

  He found another old case,

  which a lawyer reopened

  because it was

  “still in the breast of the court.”

  That’s what they do—

  find old cases that some other lawyer won,

  and use that as an argument

  for what they want

  to do.

  What we want to do is

  get the case back in the courts.

  Mr. Cohen says our “suspended sentence”

  means our case is not finished.

  It’s suspended, floating out there—

  “still in the breast of the court.”

  Mr. Cohen says he filed a motion to ask Judge Bazile

  “to vacate judgment”—

  that is, change his mind.

  Mr. Cohen says our sentence is

  “cruel and unusual punishment”—

  that our

  “banishment”

  violates the right to be married

  under the 14th Amendment.

  I think back to high school civics class,

  try to remember the

  14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

  At the time

  I didn’t think it had anything to do

  with me.

  Mr. Cohen says

  he’ll get back to us soon—

  just as soon as he hears from Judge Leon Bazile.

  Please please PLEASE,

  Mr. Judge Bazile,

  call Mr. Cohen and

  say we can come home.

  PLEASE.

  It’s so simple.

  Just a phone call.

  THE RIGHTS OF A FREE PEOPLE

  NOVEMBER 1963

  Bernie Cohen was a young lawyer on fire. He knew the Lovings’ case was important—he even loved their name, Loving, which described both the couple and the heart of the case.

  The Lovings had pleaded guilty at their first trial. To avoid a prison sentence, they opted for Judge Bazile’s offer of a suspended sentence. But that suspension—that pause—made the matter still under Judge Bazile’s jurisdiction—or still “in the breast of the court.”

  Bernie Cohen filed a motion in Judge Bazile’s Circuit Court of Caroline County to vacate the conviction—to annul or render void Judge Bazile’s previous conviction of the Lovings and their suspended sentence of 1959.

  In his motion, Cohen wrote that banishment for twenty-five years is “cruel and unusual punishment” and that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protected the right to marry, which is a fundamental right of a free people.

  In the course of his brief, Cohen contended that to keep the races from “mixing” requires segregation—and segregation was illegal.

  14TH AMENDMENT

  “Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

  The 14th Amendment was ratified July 9, 1868, following the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery and was ratified in 1865.

  RICHARD

  SEVEN MONTHS LATER

  JUNE 1964

  I don’t reckon we’re ever

  going to hear from those men.

  I don’t hold much hope.

  They talk and talk and

  then they forget about you

  ’cause they just talk talk TALKIN’

  to someone else.

  Just talk.

  I told Millie to forget them.

  1964

  “It shall be . . . unlawful . . . to discriminate against any individual . . . because of such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” —CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964

  July 1964 President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law

  MILDRED

  Waiting.

  Mr. Cohen said he’ll call me

  when he hears from Judge Bazile.

  I stopped calling him and asking.

  The answer is always no.

  I decided a letter might be better.

  Dear Mr. Cohen,

  Hope that you remember us.

  You took our case.

  We haven’t heard anything

  in so long, we’ve given up hope.

  Sincerely,

  Mr. and Mrs. Loving

  RICHARD

  FIVE MONTHS LATER

  NOVEMBER 1964

  We had an appointment with the lawyers

  in their Washington, D.C., office.

  I said to Mr. Cohen,

  Can’t you just go see Judge Bazile?

  We’re Americans.

  He has no right to say No.

  MILDRED

  Mr. Cohen says,

  “Mr. and Mrs. Loving,

  we’re working on the case.

  We have to wait on Judge Bazile.

  I know this is frustrating.

  He’s clearly stalling—

  perhaps he’s hoping to retire

  before he has to rule on your case.

  But I don’t think that will happen.

  It’s not over.

  Please be patient.”

  He introduces us to Mr. Hirschkop,

  who is also working on our case.

  Mr. Hirschkop says,

  “I’ve requested

  a temporary restraining order

  against enforcement

  of your original sentence.”

  He calls it an

  “off-the-record truce.”

  Richard and I sit

  in their itty-bitty office

  in Washington, D.C.,

  wondering what this means

  exactly.

  1964

  November 1964 Mildred and Richard Loving meet with ACLU lawyers Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop

  Richard is slouched low in his chair.

  He has nothing to say.

  They can see he’s disgusted.

  When they leave the room

  Richard takes hold of my hand.

  When they return,

  he’s still holding my hand.

  The lawyers say they’ll call us

  when they get word.

  We’ve heard this before

  but I know these men

  are working hard for us.

  I remind myself that it’s complicated.

  We just don’t know why

  it takes so long.

  It’s so simple.

  We want to go home.

  I want to call

  President Johnson

  and for him to say

  Mr. and Mrs. Loving,

  You may go home.

  MILDRED

  LATER IN NOVEMBER 1964

  Mr. Hirschkop calls.

  “Mrs. Loving, I have good news. />
  You and Mr. Loving may return—

  not to Caroline County—

  but to one of the nearby counties—

  Essex or King and Queen County,

  as long as

  political tension doesn’t mount.”

  That is the “off-the-record truce.”

  He says we won’t be bothered.

  He says, “If it gets too hot

  you’ll have a week

  to leave Virginia.”

  He says, “If there’s some problem

  and you get arrested

  we’ll get you out of jail

  within an hour.”

  He advises us to keep our apartment

  in Washington

  just in case we need

  to leave Virginia

  quickly.

  While I’m waiting for Richard to come home

  and tell him the news

  I start packing the children’s clothes.

  Laura stands in the doorway

  and smiles at me.

  RICHARD

  I found us a nice farmhouse to let

  on the edge of King and Queen County

  close to home—

  just a few miles from Passing Road, Central Point,

  Caroline County.

  It’s isolated.

  You can see the road for a piece—

  see if anyone’s driving up.

  And I found work in Washington,

  good pay—

  $5 an hour.

  The lawyers say this is important—

  my working in Washington.

  It’s part of hiding.

  My paycheck comes from Washington, D.C.,

  where we’re supposed

  to be living.

  It’s kind of crazy,

  still drive back and forth

  eating up $35 a week in gas.

  But it’s nice to be near home.

  It makes Millie

  a far sight

  happier.

  And every now and then

  she laughs—

  that beautiful laugh that I love so much.

  MILDRED

  A MONTH LATER

  DECEMBER 1964

  The children play outside.

  Richard has made them a tire swing.

  When it’s warm enough

  they can run barefoot and not

  worry about broken glass in the streets.

  But today they put on shoes.

  No more city sounds.

  No more sirens and honking.

  Instead

  owls hoot at night,

  crows caw in daytime,

  cardinals flash through the yard.

  The farmhouse comes with cats

  and Daddy loaned us Jack.

  Sidney chases the black cat,

  and Jack, barking to high heaven,

  chases Sidney.

  Don chases Jack.

  Everyone is laughing.

  Maybe even all that barking

  is Jack

  laughing.

  Peggy helps me gather sticks

  for the stove.

  Richard is at work.

  I feel a huge weight

  lift off my shoulders—

  like I’ve been carrying

  a big ole boulder around

  for six years—

  and I just now

  let it roll off.

  I do keep my eye on the road

  and get ready to gather the children

  if the sheriff drives up.

  I remind myself,

  if we get arrested,

  they’ll get us out in one hour.

  Five hours at the most,

  they say.

  Living here

  is worth that risk.

  I enroll Sidney in school,

  across the line in Essex County

  because it’s the closest to

  our farmhouse.

  When I go to pick him up

  after school

  the Essex County sheriff rolls up, says,

  “They might look the other way in King and Queen,

  but here in Essex,

  we ever see you

  together with your husband,

  we’ll arrest you.”

  I’ll find a school in King and Queen.

  We’ll have to drive farther to get him there.

  Maybe we’ll get bus service—

  but there aren’t always buses

  for colored kids.

  “ALMIGHTY GOD CREATED THE RACES WHITE, BLACK, YELLOW, MALAY, AND RED”

  JANUARY 1965

  A federal three-judge panel convened to consider Cohen and Hirschkop’s motion—whether Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws were constitutional and whether they could be enforced by the State. The judges heard the case on DECEMBER 28, 1964. The three judges declined to rule on Virginia’s law, saying the issue might still be resolved in the Virginia State Court.

  However, the spokesman for the three-judge panel, Judge Butznor, gave Judge Bazile and the State of Virginia a maximum of 90 days to “render an opinion” or the case would go to Federal Court. The threat to the Lovings of being imprisoned required the Virginia court to answer without delay.

  Finally, in January of 1965. Leon Bazile made his ruling.

  Citing cases from the 1820s—when slavery was legal—Judge Leon Bazile found that whipping, selling, or exiling people was not cruel or unusual punishment. Neither was sterilizing a defendant. Citing another case from the nineteenth century, also dated 40 years prior to the abolition of slavery, he found that what did constitute cruel and unusual punishment was a person being burned at the stake, crucified, or broken on the wheel (a torture device from the Middle Ages).

  In addition to citing century-old cases, Judge Leon Bazile made his own statement. He wrote:

  “ALMIGHTY GOD CREATED THE RACES WHITE, BLACK, YELLOW, MALAY, AND RED AND HE PLACED THEM ON SEPARATE CONTINENTS. AND BUT FOR THE INTERFERENCE WITH HIS ARRANGEMENT THERE WOULD BE NO CAUSE FOR SUCH MARRIAGES. THE FACT THAT HE SEPARATED THE RACES SHOWS THAT HE DID NOT INTEND FOR THE RACES TO MIX.”

  MILDRED

  A MONTH LATER

  JANUARY 1965

  Judge Bazile did not change his mind.

  He says Richard and I

  committed a most serious crime.

  We’ll be known as felons

  for the rest of our lives.

  Mr. Cohen reads me

  the judge’s closing statement

  over the phone.

  I’m trying to sort it out.

  God put each race of people on their own continent?

  And meant them to stay there?

  Didn’t Judge Bazile go to school?

  Didn’t he learn that God put the Indians

  on the America continent?

  Cherokee? Rappahannock?

  And then the white settlers arrived

  and stole this land from the “red” people.

  White people stole black people from the “black” continent.

  Just WHO is guilty?

  Didn’t that judge go to school?

  RICHARD

  Millie is right angry.

  But the lawyers said they expected to lose.

  They said the fight was not over.

  They said this to us in their office.

  I took up Millie’s hand and she calmed down.

  All I could say to Mr. Cohen and Mr. Hirschkop was,

  Sure do appreciate the job,

  ’cause I know they tried.

  They said,

  Go back to Washington for safety

  while we make the appeal.

  So we closed up the farmhouse,

  moved back in with Alex and Laura,

  upstairs in their house.

  We apologized to them,

  but what could we do?

  RICHARD

  FIVE MONTHS LATER

  SUMMER 1965

  One hot night Ray, Percy, and me<
br />
  were working under the oak tree

  at Ray’s—

  put my V8 in the ’62 Ford,

  painted her black,

  named her Delonoa,

  painted her number—

  ONE.

  Millie was in the house with Annamae,

  the kids were at her parents’.

  ’Round about midnight, the girls came out,

  went back inside.

  One o’clock in the morning,

  girls came out, went back in.

  Two o’clock, girls came out again.

  They went back inside.

  We just weren’t done working.

  I had something to say.

  Finally, I said to Ray and Percy,

  For the first time I live and work in the same place—

  Washington, D.C.—

  but years of going back and forth

  between Caroline County

  and Washington, D.C.—

  I got more experience

  driving than anyone.

  We all laughed

  but they said, Okay.

  You drive this one.

  You race in Parnassus.

  So come the weekend,

  I’m lined up at the start

  against Brian in his red Chevy—

  the man to beat.

  I’m pressin’ on the gas,

  my foot antsy on the clutch,

  the Christmas tree, red,

  blinks right down the line—

  red, red, red, orange,

  GREEN—

  up with the clutch and I’m off,

  just hangin’ on to that steering wheel,

  everything rattlin’ and roarin’

  YOWWWWW.

  I am neck ’n’ neck

  with the red Chevy,

  sweating hard,

  I inch ahead.

  Damned if I don’t win.

  I bring home the trophy—

  we all been collecting plenty over time

  and we divide them up—

  this one’s clearly

  MINE.

  MILDRED

  I scream alongside Annamae

  on the sidelines.

 

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