Interracial couple denied marriage license in Louisiana

[merika]

Originally Posted by Junkenpo

"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."

I think I'd be tempted to pee on his petunias.

[ShimmaPuff]

Originally Posted by nathansgirl1908

They said he has done this before. The difference was that the other couples just went to someone else and chose not to make an issue out of it.

And it was commonly known by all the other judges and magistrates, and quietly accepted as just his wacky idiosyncrasy?

I can believe that. The longstanding ethnic divisions in the US are as deep and festering as longstanding ethnic divisions anywhere, and one day I really will make good my oft-repeated threat to commit a word dump on Life Under Apartheid in the US South.

But in the meantime, I'm still suspicious enough to keep my eye on that VH1 schedule...

[eckertle]

Originally Posted by xostephie

This is crazy, but unfortunately in some of the smaller areas of the south people still harbor ill feelings about the idea of interracial couples. If he feels this way, I cannot believe he's in this business. I don't at all condone his feelings, but if chooses to believe that, he needs to go find a different career. And that bathroom comment said EXACTLY how he felt.

I think you meant to say that some areas of the COUNTRY still harbor ill feelings about the idea of interracial couples. It sucks, but the one place that i DID run into issues with my interracial relationship was in the pacific northwest (i.e. Washington, Oregon). Shocking, right? It sucks to realize this, but a lot of people EVERYWHERE are ignorant and short-sighted. As a country, we still have a lot of growing up to do.

This whole mess smells like a publicity stunt to me. Shimma's right about this guy... maybe he is looking for his reality show.

[nathansgirl1908]

Originally Posted by ShimmaPuff

And it was commonly known by all the other judges and magistrates, and quietly accepted as just his wacky idiosyncrasy? I can believe that. The longstanding ethnic divisions in the US are as deep and festering as longstanding ethnic divisions anywhere, and one day I really will make good my oft-repeated threat to commit a word dump on Life Under Apartheid in the US South. But in the meantime, I'm still suspicious enough to keep my eye on that VH1 schedule...

I guess they did just accept it. Not too surprising because as you said, ethnic divisions are deep.

[meganfm]

Originally Posted by natalie78

I'm also married to someone of a different race. Although we've never had any major problems, we do get strange looks and comments sometimes from people of both our races. We don't let it bother us and we know when to just walk away.

My DBF and I get that a bit too, even in Vancouver. It's usually from exchange students who are here studying English from Asia...they gawk at us a bit :S But I think it's more a matter of surprise than disdain.

[amanda]

Originally Posted by xostephie

This is crazy, but unfortunately in some of the smaller areas of the south people still harbor ill feelings about the idea of interracial couples. If he feels this way, I cannot believe he's in this business. I don't at all condone his feelings, but if chooses to believe that, he needs to go find a different career. And that bathroom comment said EXACTLY how he felt.

To say that this is a "southern" issue is not only entirely untrue, but it's the kind of short-sightedness that allows structural and latent racism to flourish in areas that are not as "known" for it.

It's easy to blame racism on backward southerners and feel superior, but it's not a southern problem, it's an American problem. It may manifest itself in different ways in other regions, but it's no less present. The otherization of the south allows these issues to thrive unchecked, slightly below the surface, in the rest of the country, including wherever it is that you live. It may be attractive to think that these problems only happen elsewhere, where people are different, but the more people I meet and the more places I travel, the more it becomes obvious that people are basically the same from place to place, for better and for worse.

[Kitsunegrl]

^so true about latent racism.......I experienced more racial comments in Michigan than anywhere else I have lived. I was quite surprised.

[tlloveshim]

Originally Posted by Kitsunegrl

^so true about latent racism.......I experienced more racial comments in Michigan than anywhere else I have lived. I was quite surprised.

It is surprising. I have seen more racism in Indiana and South Dakota than I ever saw when we lived in South Carolina. There was little diversity in Indiana where we lived, people were segregated but in South Carolina people seemed to live in all different areas together and had to 'live' life together. Here in SD we see racism occur between white and native American so yes, it happens everywhere and to many different races. It isn't just a southern thing. It's a people thing.

[lorihmatthews]

Am I missing something, or isn't it part of his job to issue marriage licenses? Why is he given a choice to issue or not?

[edsbgrl]

Speechless........but somehow I'm not really surprized.........

.......glad he lets his black friends use his bathroom. Up until he made that statement, I seriously thought he very well might be racist. But letting your black friends (and their black only spouses) use your bathroom definately sets the record straight that he is NOT a racist.

......I don't think I can be any more sarcastic here.......

RIDICULOUS!

[amanda]

Originally Posted by Kitsunegrl

^so true about latent racism.......I experienced more racial comments in Michigan than anywhere else I have lived. I was quite surprised.

I've lived in the Deep South for my entire life and the most blatantly racist person I've ever met was from Idaho. Racism doesn't have a zip code.

I have a close friend that lived the first 25 years of his life in Chicago and he said that he was shocked by how much more respected he felt, as a black man, after moving to Atlanta. That's just one person's experience, obviously, but I think that ideas about the singularity of Southern racism are inaccurate.

[Roo]

I don't mean to minimize this guy's actions, because they are reprehensible. But I have family heritage tied to NOLA and I can tell you that eccentric behavior bordering on the insane and/or offensive is something that is somewhat tolerated there. Sorta comes with the territory... so he probably did get away with it for a while before someone spoke up.

[kavnadoo]

This is what happens when statistics from the masses are applied to individuals. Statistics mean nothing to the individual.

[nathansgirl1908]

Originally Posted by edsbgrl

Speechless........but somehow I'm not really surprized......... .......glad he lets his black friends use his bathroom. Up until he made that statement, I seriously thought he very well might be racist. But letting your black friends (and their black only spouses) use your bathroom definately sets the record straight that he is NOT a racist. ......

Of COURSE not! You're so right. The minute I heard that statement I just knew this poor man wasn't getting a fair shake. I mean he lets them use his bathroom. If that doesn't prove he's not racist, I don't know what does.


*snickering*

(Love your sarcasm Gave me the laugh I needed for today)

[nathansgirl1908]

Originally Posted by lorihmatthews

Am I missing something, or isn't it part of his job to issue marriage licenses? Why is he given a choice to issue or not?

Well actually if you are missing something, then you are in good company because HE'S missing that part as well.


lmao