Many don’t realize that mixed race marriages were legalized across the US only 50 years ago today. On June 12, 1967 the ban on interracial marriages was struck down in 16 states, thanks to a brave couple in Virginia.

My kids were born only 30 years after this law was passed in the US. Thirty years is not a long time. When I moved to Japan at the age of 13, I met interracial kids for the first time. Of course, I didn’t think twice about it at that age and haven’t done so since.

Here in the US, however, even 50 years after this law was passed, I can see that some still do a double-take when they realize that my kids and I don’t appear to look the same, racially. Versus other countries where I have spent time (Singapore, Brazil, Sweden, etc), one can tell it is still relatively new and perhaps unusual to us in the US.

I was happy to realize, today, that this pioneering interracial couple was named “Loving.” Coincidentally, this summer, we are also celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love here in San Francisco.

Here’s to a future where the word “love” comes to define how we look at racial differences and diversity of all kinds.

The Lovings changed US history in 1967

30 years later, kids like these were born legally in the US