in this lies the truth of your values

Recently, I read Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell about Mildred and Richard Loving, a Virginia couple whose marriage was legal in Washington, D.C., where they traveled to be married, but illegal in their native state of Virginia. Living together there as husband and wife was a crime. Ultimately, their case made its way to the Supreme Court and led to the end of the illegality of interracial marriage in the United States in 1967.

But in 1958, Mildred and Richard woke to find the county sheriff and two deputies standing next to their bed.

Their crime was not met with impunity, but the men who burned crosses in Mildred’s parents front yard were.

Mildred was African-American and Indian. Richard was white. They were punished; Richard spent 24 hours in jail, Mildred five days, and the couple had to leave Virginia for 9 years while their case made its through the courts. Still, the couple knew that if Mildred had been white and Richard had been Black: Richard wouldn’t have spent any time in jail. Instead, he would have been lynched. Mildred’s “illegal” children left with no father and those responsible for hanging him walking free. Impunity.

Impunity reflects societal values. What and who we punish; what and who we do not punish speaks volumes. Laws matter, of course. But, in the enforcement of those laws lies the truth of what a society values.

Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail followed by three years of probation for…