Concern troll should have his JP licence revoked

For anyone who doesn’t see the connection between civil rights and marriage rights, here…get a load of this walking anachronism from the Old South:

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.

“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.”

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.

Except, of course, interracial couples. Some couples are more equal than others, it seems! See? He’s perfectly consistent.

Of course, HOW he “came to the conclusion” is kind of hinky. And it being FUX Snooze profiling this concern troll (with all the Fairness and Balance that THAT implies!), of course they don’t go into that, because that would mean admitting that the South is still deeply racist, and that this guy is not some kind of quaint exception.

Nor is he genuinely concerned for the children and what kind of acceptance they would get. If he were, he might have trouble explaining the near-universal appeal of Halle Berry. Or Barack Obama.

As it is, a lot of black Americans have some white ancestry (particularly in the South, where masters were known to impregnate female slaves on a more or less regular basis), and this is very much a fact of life in predominantly black communities. It’s only in the last half-century or so that interracial love and marriage have been recognized…by whites. The blacks have been living with it for much longer.

And of course, none of this registers with the concern troll. Just as no interracial couples are allowed to register their marriages with him.

But that doesn’t stop them from happening:

Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.

Humphrey, an account manager for a marketing firm, said she and McKay, a welder, just returned to Louisiana. She plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.

“That was one thing that made this so unbelievable,” she said. “It’s not something you expect in this day and age.”

Humphrey said she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell’s wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. Bardwell suggested the couple go to another justice of the peace in the parish who agreed to marry them.

“We are looking forward to having children,” Humphrey said. “And all our friends and co-workers have been very supportive. Except for this, we’re typical happy newlyweds.”

Gee, so much for non-acceptance.

Concern Troll is an Epic Fail.

But FUX being FUX (and well known for its own racism), they give him the last word…and what a whiny word it is:

“I’ve been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don’t think I’ve mistreated anybody,” Bardwell said. “I’ve made some mistakes, but you have too. I didn’t tell this couple they couldn’t get married. I just told them I wouldn’t do it.”

Yeah, dude…because You. Are. A. RACIST.

End of story.

ADDENDUM: For some interesting historical backgrounder on black/white miscegenation in the slave-era South, I found this today: The Rape of Black Women Under Slavery, Part II. Highly recommended reading. This passage in particular leapt out at me:

Systemic gendered racism was central to slavery too. Resisting the alienation of slavery, as a young woman, she fell in love with a free black man. When her slavemaster found out, he was enraged. She pleaded with him, but he refused to let her to marry.

Refusing to let blacks marry whom they want, in other words, is a direct throwback to slavery.

No, this JP wasn’t being the least bit racist!