Racism in 2009: Thoughts on The Louisiana Judge Denying Interracial Marriage

When I read on line about Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Louisiana, denying a marriage license to a mixed race couple, my first reaction was shock that someone in a place of authority could even consider that sort of thing in a time when the Commander-In-Chief is of a mixed race background.

After giving it some thought, however, I am honestly not that surprised about what went down.

What Bardwell did was obviously evil and wrong; the fact that he said, “I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,” makes him exactly what he said he was not.

Since the laws banning interracial relationships and marriage were struck down by the Supreme Court in 1967, Bardwell was breaking the law in not issuing a marriage license to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is African American.

He should be immediately dismissed from the bench for his actions; that is a clear given.

I will state one thing on Bardwell’s behalf, though, something that I’m not sure anyone else has considered…

At least he was honest in his views.

Malcolm X perhaps said it best in his autobiography when he wrote that many Southern whites tell blacks up front that they “…never will accept…integration,” and that they oppose “…even the so-called ‘tokenism’.” Bardwell is an illustration of what Malcolm was taking about.

This is in contrast to the many Americans of all races who share Bardwell’s opinions on interracial romance and marriage and feel that people should “stick to their own kind”, but who would never voice such views in public because they don’t want to look bad and be regarded as bigots.

In other words, Bardwell voiced what many people feel. For that I give him credit.

And I certainly respect his honesty.

It does make me sad that in 2009, well into the 21st century, there are still individuals out there – and not just a few lunatics – that feel their race is superior to other races and that different ethnic groups shouldn’t mix, and I am talking about blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Middle Easterners as well as whites.

Personally, I never could understand how people can reject someone, romantically or otherwise, purely based on skin pigmentation, the way they worship, or where they came from in the world.

Love is a gift, and anything between two human beings that is loving should be wholeheartedly accepted and seen as wonderful. If a black man and a white woman, or an Asian woman and a Latino, find themselves in love and desiring to be together, it is nobody’s business, and definitely no one else’s place to say that they shouldn’t date or marry.