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50 Year Anniversary of Virginia Loving Case

Supreme Court
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Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's been 50 years since the Supreme Court threw out laws that prohibited interracial marriage in the United States.

But some interracial couples say they still face discrimination and distrust in America from strangers and sometimes their own families.

Interracial marriages became legal nationwide on June 12, 1967, after the Supreme Court threw out a Virginia law used to arrest Mildred and Richard Loving. The Supreme Court's unanimous decision struck down the Virginia law and similar statutes in roughly one-third of the states.

Currently, 11 million people - or 1 out of 10 married people - in the United States have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity.

But several interracial couples say they still suffer through looks, insults and sometimes even violence when people find out about their relationships.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.