Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License at Schema : more than ethnic

Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License

Angry Asian Man

I found this article from Phil Yu's Angry Asian Man and didn't quite know what to think. There's a guy, a justice of the peace, who says that he refuses to give out marriage licenses to interracial couples. Believe it or not, this man lives in New Orleans, in America. Evidently no place, not even the United States, is completely devoid of bigotry. Sad, but it's the cold, hard, ridiculous truth. Being in Canada, I live in a fairly liberal country and I wonder if anyone in a position of power could get away with crap like this. Is there really any excuse for being a straight-up racist?

This isn't really Asian American-related, but I wanted to share it because it clearly illustrates the the ignorant, racist attitudes that still exist today in the United States of America...

In New Orleans, a justice of the peace says he refuses to issue a marriage licenses to interracial couples, apparently out of the concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long. Um, not that your experience is worth a damn, but that really isn't your call to make:

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way**," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

**Sorry, but I'd like to know, in what other ways could you mix races?!

Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said.

That last statement is the funniest part. I also like the part where he claims his "piles and piles of black friends" come to his home and use the bathroom.

Well, that is great. I was mistakenly under the impression that he was one of those racists who makes his black friends pee in the backyard. Turns out, he treats them "just like everyone else." Except when it comes to letting interracial couples get married.

Sources:

Angry Asian Man Thanks Phil!
Interracial Couple Denied Marriage in Louisiana
Disgrasian