Ken Tanabe
Scholarly and Community Advisor
Loving Day is a global movement to create a multicultural holiday. It is celebrated on June 12th, which is the anniversary of Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage in the United States. Loving Day’s mission is to fight racial prejudice and to build multicultural community.
The Loving Day Project encourages people to host annual Loving Day Celebrations. In 2011, there were events of all sizes in 43 cities in the United States including NYC, LA, DC, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seatlle, and outside of the United States in cities like Tokyo. The Loving Day Flagship Celebration in New York City has about 1000 guests every year. The largest Loving Day Celebration on the west coast is the Mixed Roots Film and LIterary Festival, which is hosted by the Japanese American National Museum. Loving Day Celebrations can also be small events like backyard barbecues, picnics, potluck dinners, cocktail parties, and more. There have been imaginative events such as a Loving Day cruise. Loving Day is a tradition that is shared among friends and passed between generations.
The Loving Day Project is active all year. In addition to hosting the annual Flagship Celebration in June, Loving Day organizes, supports, and participates in educational and community events at universities and cultural institutions. Collaborators include student groups at Columbia University and NYU. Loving Day regularly participates in conferences such as the Harvard SWAYA conference, the Critical Mixed Race Conference at DePaul, and the Hapa Japan Conference at USC. The Loving Day website (LovingDay.org) provides educational materials about the interracial marriage laws in the United States, courtroom history, and recommended academic and community resources. It is also a place where people can share their stories and experiences.
Loving Day provides a means of connecting diverse multicultural organizations, communities, and individuals through a shared tradition and experience. The project actively seeks to introduce the community to a growing audience. Loving Day has been featured in Time, NPR, Washington Post, ABC, MTV, the CW, BBC World, and many other global media outlets