Louisiana magistrate denies marriage license to interracial couple

By Raw Story
Thursday, October 15th, 2009 -- 3:57 pm

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interracialkiss Louisiana magistrate denies marriage license to interracial couple A justice of the peace in northern Louisiana has refused to grant a marriage license to an interracial couple because he believes it would harm any children born of that relationship.

“I’m not a racist,” Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in the state's Tangihapoa Parish, told the Hammond, Louisiana, Daily Star. “I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house. My main concern is for the children.”

The Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling the justice's move "tragic and illegal."

The Hammond Daily Star reports:

Beth Humphrey, 30, said she and her boyfriend, Terence McKay, 32, both of Hammond, intend to consult the US Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.
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Humphrey said she called Bardwell Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She said Bardwell’s wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples.

The paper quotes the justice of the peace as saying that “99 percent of the time” an interracial couple will consist of a black man and white woman, and “I find that rather confusing.”

Evidently, Bardwell has long had a policy of not marrying interracial couples, and admitted that Louisiana's attorney general had warned him years ago that he could "get into trouble" because of it.

“I told him if I do, I’ll resign,” Bardwell told the Daily Star. “I have rights too. I’m not obligated to do that just because I’m a justice of the peace.”

Bardwell said that neither black nor white society accepts the offspring of an interracial couple, and the children suffer as a result. He also stated that interracial families are unstable, and the children of these families often end up in the care of grandparents.

“In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer,” he said, adding that "if he does an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all," the Daily Star writes.

“I try to treat everyone equally,” he said.

Humphrey and McKay are considering filing a discrimination complaint with the US Justice Department.

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Story comments are below...

kscitydude

"Bardwell said that neither black nor white society accepts the offspring of an interracial couple, and the children suffer as a result. He also stated that interracial families are unstable, and the children of these families often end up in the care of grandparents."

Or Mr. Bardwel, children of interracial couples can grow-up to be the POTUS.

xxxevilgrinxxx

I think that's more than likely what the problem is for this racist.

andy369

The deep, dark, backwards South.

How embarrassing for those few that live there that are not as dumb as rocks.

Is this counrty WORTH saving?

kevindo

No, it is not. How did this guy get a license? It is like 1950 or something down here (I live in FL, asscrack of Amerika). Seriously, you hear people say things and think 'they have to be kidding' only to find they are 100% serious. It is amazing.

roooth

I live in Florida too - and it's like being stuck in some nasty, ignorant, backasswards, time warp.

I really miss living in a liberal place - I miss living around people who are not ashamed to be well-educated and well-read.

lousgirl84

Good question and I am not sure it is.

Savantster

.
The country is; many of the people "living" here are not.

tanj

“99 percent of the time” an interracial couple will consist of a black man and white woman, and “I find that rather confusing.”
Proof that 45.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Other things that confuse Mr. Bardwell include; Daylight savings time and the infield fly rule.
I see a resignation in your future.

Gerry

Everytime I think there may be hope for the South some boob like Bardwell shows up to prove me wrong. I have travelled through most of the South and I think Lincoln was wrong: he should have let the Confederacy go. The intelligent parts of the U.S. would not be stuck with these racist hicks today. Thank "the force" that I was born in San Francisco and am still near there today.

lousgirl84

I so agree with you. I live in Southern Cal (but I love SFO the best of any city in this country for sure).

I am sick of sharing the planet with these scum bags/

thomas3

Yes, California has all the advantages of being both #1 in Agriculture and #1 in high-tech. Yet Californians are so dumb with their money (much of it going to slime-ball lawyers) that the entire state gov't is about to stop functioning. The state is now "paying" its debts in IOUs (i.e. a scrap of paper with a nice note on it about maybe getting real money some day, if you're lucky).
Despite all their wealth, California schools now produce children who test below national averages on a wide range of subjects - even below some Southern states!!.
Don't forget that California was also ground-zero for American discrimination against Asians. They attempted to hurt urban Chinese workers with phoney public-health laws against so-called "opium dens". This ultimately led to the disgraceful framework of drug laws now helping to ruin our country. Laws which directly result in "black markets" for common items wanted and needed, but forbidden. Such violent black markets would not exist except for all of our naive, do-gooder laws on drugs - ironically rooted in an especially mean and ugly strain of California racism from the first half of the 20th century. Such laws culminated in the relocation, imprisonment and robbery (by the state) of many thousands of completely innocent Japanese-American families during WWII (an outrage which even FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover opposed at the time!) and it was racist Californians who led the way to this national disgrace!!

lousgirl84

California has its problems like every other state and as far as its racism in the first half of the 20th century, name me a state that wasn't.

You need to go for a walk or do some exercise and get rid of your pent up anger at California. I wouldn't live anywhere else with all its faults, its 5 million times better than the ignorant south and Louisiana in particular.

Fangdango

Anyone who thinks California is free of racism should spend some time reading the readers' comments on the Orange County Register. And remember that the town in California called Santee is better known in these parts as "Klan-tee." Then there's Escondido, new capital of the KKK.

Savantster

.
Wow.. in America, your right to inject your bigotry into your job trumps the law? So says this moron.

Less stable? based on what study/facts/evidence? "in my heart".. f*ck your heart, moron.

I hope that not only does he lose his job over this ("I'll resign [if I get in trouble for being a bigot and failing to do my job]".. indeed..), I hope criminal charges are [able to be] brought for his violating the rights of these couples.

jm2

would someone please remind me what country i'm living in. i'm not so sure anymore...

lousgirl84

I hear ya loud and clear. I am disgusted. The only thing that keeps me going is Obama. I love this president

KYIndigo

Yeah, Americans really don't like the offspring of a white woman and her black husband. It's not like we would elect one as President or something...

tjfxh

Hello. Barack Obama seems like a nice fellow and apparently turned out all right, in spite of his "interracial" heritage. At least the majority of American thought so in 2008, and the Nobel committee, too.

Minority Dad

When my wife and I got engaged, a family member told us very similar things: (1) that the family member was "not racist," (2) that bi-racial kids have no heritage to claim and no group that would accept them, and (3) interracial couples are very selfish for thinking only of themselves and ignoring the misery they would inflict on their kids.

This line of reasoning is "white separatism," and apparently, both this magistrate and that family member think they can redefine "racism" as "white supremacy" and avoid being called racists simply by saying they support same-race marriages.

Of course, our kids turned out just fine socially, and none of that family member's nightmares have come to pass. As for this magistrate, an agent of the state, he could save himself a lot of embarrassment by reviewing the 14th Amendment and the Loving v. Virginia decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Savantster

.
If it's "selfish" to have kids as interracial couples, what's the supposed motivation of having kids? I thought the idea was for both parents to have a way to continue their existence (in a manner of speaking) by passing their genes on. I think that process happens for interracial couples too.. hence "biracial".

But, it seems the argument made is "you have kids to show honor to your heritage", not to propagate the species? Not to do what all biological things do, keep their genetic material in existence? often by "cross pollinating"?

The funny thing here is, people's views don't seem based on facts and reality, but instead their own deluded "feelings" about what they think makes sense. I just don't understand how so many people are fact-absent in their "opinions".

[to be clear, "babies" are a biological process, not a cultural one. babies are "what you are", not "who you are". in an interracial family, the "who" becomes a melding of who both parents see themselves as, and since America is a "melting pot", that would be "good, up standing, law abiding, Constitution loving Americans".. skin color immaterial]



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Louisiana magistrate denies marriage license to interracial couple

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