The Film "Loving" and the 2016 Election

In the current film, Loving, about Richard and Mildred Loving's 1958 interracial marriage that led to their arrest in Virginia, Richard tells their lawyer, as he prepares to present their appeal to the Supreme Court: "tell the court I love my wife." In 1967, that Court unanimously threw out the miscegenation laws then on the books in sixteen states. The film does not present the high drama we are used to in TV or big screen courtroom scenes. The cinematic focus is instead on the love between its protagonists, their struggle for a normal life, and the hardships imposed by the hard-heartedness of their state government.

Much has been written in the last two weeks about why Donald Trump won and Hillary Clinton lost the election. Some see in the result the work of racial or identity group politics. Some see anti-establishment anger. Others see the impact of a letter from FBI Director James Comey, the poor turnout of certain voter groups, the power of social media, undisclosed emails, false facts, political lies, and/or corruption. But there is one factor that has been insufficiently understood. The election was in large part about the same demand for human dignity that led the Lovings to marry and that propelled them on a nine-year battle to have that dignity respected by their government.

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