United States of America, 2009

[admin]

(10-15) 13:47 PDT Hammond, La. (AP) --

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of 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.

Read more: www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/15/national/a124653D11.DTL

[betahat]

I saw this. The sad thing is that the justice is right that interracial marriages are more likely to end in divorce (as are inter-religious marriages in general) but is wrong to not give them a chance on the basis of a population statistic. It is a little funny that he apparently has found a rationalist-utilitarian-empirical type of argument for his actions, rather than relying on a quasi-religious motivation that existed in the most recent famous case of an interracial dating ban at Bob Jones III University.

I don't know what the statistics are for white-asian couples (or if such statistics even exist), but I believe that white-white and black-black marriages are less likely to end in divorce than black-white marriages (I don't know how gender matters or how big the gap is but could look it up if anyone is interested).

The justified outrage will no doubt ensure that this matter is resolved as (now) common sense dictates. The United States in 2009 won't stand for this, especially with a mixed race President (though to be honest, Obama's parents' story doesn't exactly contradict the Justice's anecdotal evidence, even if he is certainly "accepted" by a majority of Americans).

I do like this though:
""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."

How nice of him to let his black friends use his bathroom. Personally I believe that it is better to have separate race bathrooms, as all my Asian friends are confounded by the lack of hole in the ground with a bucket with water, my Jewish friends lament the lack of a Bidet, and my black friends usually find the seat too small for their gigantic booties.

[milkman's baby]

Oct 15, 2009 17:46:36 GMT -5 betahat said:

I do like this though:
""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."

How nice of him to let his black friends use his bathroom. Personally I believe that it is better to have separate race bathrooms, as all my Asian friends are confounded by the lack of hole in the ground with a bucket with water, my Jewish friends lament the lack of a Bidet, and my black friends usually find the seat too small for their gigantic booties.

Loves it. I think that's going on my Facebook favorite quotes section.

Matter of fact, it's going on my signature.

[milkman's baby]

Man, I've gotta say the dumass balloon kid and this story definitely made this week some great journalism.

[TeeHee]

This all reminds me of how I once had this classmate, a white girl, who said "If I ever brought a black guy home, my brother would be sure to shoot him dead." She talked about it very casually and shrugged it off as if it was no big deal, adding "My family's not racist at all, but that's just how they were raised." Must I mention that she said this right in front of my other classmate who was mulatta with a black father. Talk about an idiot. Don't wanna know what one would have to do in order to be considered as racist in their minds.

[i move the stars for no one]

^ugh,i hear that from so many white americans.'i'm not racist,but...' *insert horribly racist statement here*.

[betahat]

I think that what gets them is the fine distinctions, like between "rape" and "rape rape." Everyone's a little racist - forming initial impressions of people based on skin color among many other variables - but very few people are "racist racist," i.e. still supporting segregated schools and restaurants, burning crosses, lynching, making racist comments directed at the "race" in question directly and face-to-face, etc.
I think what your friends could mean is that "racism" in their eyes is a constitutive act - you have to do something. Secretly hating a particular group of people but treating them normally isn't racist in their eyes. I guess it goes to the darker areas of the human mind - many of us have occasional impulses or beliefs that part of us think or know are morally wrong, and so we try not to act on them even if we can't be rid of them at a deeper level as it is difficult to modify our inherited worldview. To take it back to Roman Polanski, "everyone wants to screw young girls" - but only some of us are stupid and lacking in the moral fiber that tells us that drugging and raping a 13 year old is really, really wrong.
Now Mr. Justice is not that subtle - I think he is entitled to believe that mixed marriages are more likely to end in divorce (and there may be evidence to support him) but it is just plain wrong to put that belief into practice when you are a public servant committed to serving and treating everyone equally.

[milkman's baby]

Oct 16, 2009 12:01:22 GMT -5 TeeHee said:

This all reminds me of how I once had this classmate, a white girl, who said "If I ever brought a black guy home, my brother would be sure to shoot him dead." She talked about it very casually and shrugged it off as if it was no big deal, adding "My family's not racist at all, but that's just how they were raised." Must I mention that she said this right in front of my other classmate who was mulatta with a black father. Talk about an idiot. Don't wanna know what one would have to do in order to be considered as racist in their minds.

Yeah I do notice most white American parents born before the 1970's are in the mode where they can now accept their white children having black friends, but are still uncomfortable about having them bring a black person into the family. But to make it fair, black parents are often the same way. Especially overprotective black mothers. Especially if it's a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Gawd, I would not want to be at that family dinner.

But anyway, yeah the example of your classmate is not rare whatsoever. I grew up around that mentality to the point where I'm surprised to meet families that don't think like that.

[jefe]

Left a note on this in the other thread (before I saw this one)

Maybe the judge is not afraid that their marriage will end in divorce, but that we'll end up with another president who is the product of a mixed marriage.

I wonder if he has no qualms about black-Asian marriages -- just about White-non-white marriages, as it was in the anti-miscegenation era.

I don't think resignation is appropriate. I think criminal prosecution is.

[palaver]

Oct 15, 2009 17:46:36 GMT -5 betahat said:

I saw this. The sad thing is that the justice is right that interracial marriages are more likely to end in divorce (as are inter-religious marriages in general) but is wrong to not give them a chance on the basis of a population statistic.

That's right. If they had been brother and sister, uncle and niece, cousin and crocodile, that redneck judge would've married them faster than two shakes of a sheep's tail--and for less than a dead hog in sunshine. And that's if it isn't already a common-law marriage. That one is free and already takes care of relatives living together.

[milkman's baby]

I'm surprising judges even deny marriage licenses for anything outside of the law. I didn't know it was like a trial where every couple has to plead their case as to why they want to marry. I think you just go in and get out, unless you're 14. Maybe it differs by state? I'm not really keen on my marriage knowledge.

[TeeHee]

Oct 16, 2009 18:45:21 GMT -5 milkman's baby said:

Oct 16, 2009 12:01:22 GMT -5 TeeHee said:

This all reminds me of how I once had this classmate, a white girl, who said "If I ever brought a black guy home, my brother would be sure to shoot him dead." She talked about it very casually and shrugged it off as if it was no big deal, adding "My family's not racist at all, but that's just how they were raised." Must I mention that she said this right in front of my other classmate who was mulatta with a black father. Talk about an idiot. Don't wanna know what one would have to do in order to be considered as racist in their minds.

Yeah I do notice most white American parents born before the 1970's are in the mode where they can now accept their white children having black friends, but are still uncomfortable about having them bring a black person into the family. But to make it fair, black parents are often the same way. Especially overprotective black mothers. Especially if it's a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Gawd, I would not want to be at that family dinner.

But anyway, yeah the example of your classmate is not rare whatsoever. I grew up around that mentality to the point where I'm surprised to meet families that don't think like that.

Actually, I'm not surprised either when I come across folks who are ok with their children/family making friends with other races but against bringing them into the family. It's just annoying to see how they contradict themselves in such statements saying "I'm not racist" then following it with something that's blatantly racist. I mean, shooting someone dead because they're this or that race...if that's not racist for ya, I don't know what is. Not that this is much better, but I'd rather they just cut the crap and admit it already that they are racist; to me, that's less annoying than the ones in denial.

[betahat]

To follow up on the original story, Bobby Jindal (Governor- R) and Mary Landrieu (Senator - D) both called for this judges removal. It's not up to them, but it seems pretty clear that no one is going to stick up for this guy. Whatever you think of Louisiana being full of racist hicks, they did elect an Indian governor, albeit a Christian conservative one...

thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63543-jindal-landrieu-call-for-judges-removal

[milkman's baby]

Oct 17, 2009 15:45:39 GMT -5 betahat said:

To follow up on the original story, Bobby Jindal (Governor- R) and Mary Landrieu (Senator - D) both called for this judges removal. It's not up to them, but it seems pretty clear that no one is going to stick up for this guy. Whatever you think of Louisiana being full of racist hicks, they did elect an Indian governor, albeit a Christian conservative one...

thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63543-jindal-landrieu-call-for-judges-removal

It wasn't so much the residents of Louisiana that elected an Indian-American for governor as it was the Republican Party, which already had a stronghold in the state. Thinking on the national level, the Republican Party will jump at any chance to get a minority in their spotlight. That's always how it's always been. Conservatives finding a Clarence Thomas are like the nerdy boy in high school that scores the attractive popular chick. They're both gonna flaunt them and let everyone see what they got, because they both know it'll be another 100 years before something like this happens again.

But yeah I get your point, the people of Louisiana didn't pitch a pissy when a colored man became governor so there's obviously some progress. Funny, I was talking about Jindal with my first cousin who's an RN down in Baton Rouge months back, and she told me people really don't talk much about his Indianness or non-whiteness out there. It's not like how we constantly refer to Obama as an African-American president. It's just Governor Jindal. May be really minor, but that to me shows good racial progression.

[jefe]

Wondering if there has been any development on this.

NO news here on CNN since then.

They used to lynch people to set an example. The outcome, regardless of what it actually is, has to be made public and not swept under the rug.