Indianapolis to host its first Loving Day Celebration

Indianapolis is celebrating love this month — in more than one way. Loving Day is a national day of celebration in honor of the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Loving v. Virginia on June 12, 1967. The unanimous ruling, which abolished prohibitions against interracial marriage, would go down in history and change lives — and love stories — for decades to come. Now, the City of Indianapolis is paying homage to that history with a party on June 8 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.“I think it’s important. I hope we do it annually, frankly,” Greg Ballard, former Mayor of Indianapolis, told the Recorder. “Interracial marriages are actually becoming quite common these days. Many people don’t know that it wasn’t common just not that long ago, and so it’s an appreciation of that.” Ballard reached out to community organizations to find partners to help give Indianapolis the Loving Day celebration he believed the city deserved, which did not take long. The International Center quickly jumped on board with the idea, as did the Pacers, the Colts and the United Negro College Fund as sponsors. Richard Loving, a white man, and his wife Mildred Loving, who was Black and Native American, were arrested...