June 12th AKA Loving Day!

What is Loving Day you ask? Loving Day's mission is to fight racial prejudice through education and to build multicultural community based on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia.


"Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967),[1] was a landmark civil rights decision of the United States Supreme Court which invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.
The case was brought by Mildred Loving, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated the state's anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as "white" and people classified as "colored." The Supreme Court's unanimous decision held this prohibition was unconstitutional, overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

The decision was followed by an increase in interracial marriages in the U.S., and is remembered annually on Loving Day, June 12. It has been the subject of two movies as well as songs. In the 2010s, it again became relevant in the context of the debate about same-sex marriage in the United States." Wikipedia.com


Why am I participating in Loving Day? Well, I have a few indirect but important reasons. 
First reason: I'm an American, born and raised. My family, both parents and everyone before, comes from Jamaica.  In trying to create my family tree I learned a few things. Interracial relationships are built into my lineage. I learned that Asian, and Scottish among other races, are all swirling around my DNA. Does that make a huge difference in who I am today? Yes and no. Yes, because in this mixing, I was raised to love all, not just those of the same race or a certain color. I never grew up feeling like I had to be with a particular race or worry about bringing someone home who was not 'like me'. 
No, because no matter who my ancestors where when you see me you see a black woman. I have no time to fractionalize my parts because that is who I am as a whole. Not only do I embrace who I am, but I embrace people of all races because I love all, not just some or a chosen few.

Second reason: My Novel Jaded Hearts. When I wrote Jaded Hearts, I did not have any knowledge of how the publishing industry worked. I had a story to write, and I wrote it. In that story my main character, a black woman, has relationships with men who are not the same race. She is involved in a pseudo love triangle with a Cuban American man and an Italian American man. While my story does not focus on the fact that these relationships are what we deem 'interracial', when it came time to market my book that term came into play. I learned that there was a market dedicated to people who want to read about characters who may not fit the mainstream romance norm.  I learned that Jaded Hearts falls into a niche category, Interracial or Multicultural romance.  I couldn't just throw it in the Romance bin because even in the world of books, there are groups and categories that they must fit into. So just like me, my book was one thing on the outside, but swirling with intricate layers on the inside. While the market for Interracial and Multicultural romance novels is on the rise, my hope is that one day IR/MR will be a mainstream genre.

In honor of Loving Day, I am giving away 2 free copies of Jaded Hearts, one ebook and one print, and a $15.00 Amazon.com gift card. 

Enter Here!!

For more information on Loving Day please visit Lovingday.org.