Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anti-miscegenation laws have been a part of American law since before the United States. They were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1967. The term miscegenation, a word invented by American journalists to discredit the Abolitionist movement by stirring up debate over the prospect of black–white intermarriage after the abolition of slavery, was first coined in 1863, during the American Civil War.[1] In those of the original Thirteen Colonies that became states and enacted such laws, they were enacted as state law in the early 18th century a century or more after the complete racialization of slavery.[2]

To underscore… My wife and I would not have had the right to marry in most states in this country until 1967 (I’m Black, she White). Just a short forty-five years ago.

When anyone asks me about same-sex marriage, I remind them of this. I let them know that to keep that right from others on similarly arbitrary grounds is an affront to the freedoms I myself have only recently been given.

So, when we talk about limiting marriage to one group or another — regardless of label, we are really having the same conversation as limiting it for me and my people or any group for that matter.

This is why we must not legislate hatred and bigotry (back) in to our laws. This is why Vote No matters to us all.