Keith Bardwell, the Louisiana Justice of the Peace, who refused to marry an interracial couple, made a very bad decision. Even worse was his defense of his decision: "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way. 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." Isn't it always amusing when racists try to excuse their public behavior with a statement like that.
"They come to my home...they use my bathroom..." Wow, he even lets "them" come to his home AND use his bathroom. I'd bet that he uses a lot of lysol, after they leave. No telling what "they" might leave in his home. People like Bardwell are too stupid to realize that they are showing their ignorance, when they make statements like that. He has "piles of black friends." No, has piles of black acquaintances. I would bet that they are not his friends. They are simply friendly.
It is not up to anyone with the power to marry a couple to make that decision for them. Their pastor or their friends may very well advise them against marriage, but in the end it is their decision. In today's world for someone like Bardwell to refuse to marry a couple on the basis of race is inexcusable.
I do not know Louisiana law. It may be perfectly legal for Bardwell to refuse to perform a ceremony. However, federal law permits interracial marriage and my guess is that Bardwell may very well have a rocky road ahead. If the couple decides to file a discrimination complaint with the EOC, Mr. Bardwell better lock the doors and hide his money.
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And sanitize his toilet! Someone said to me once, "There are good coloreds and bad coloreds." (And your point is?) )Yes, twas said in the '60s at a family party in Indiana.
I don’t understand the problem so many people in this country have with “race.” I read a book by a PhD scientist and he said that there is a human race, a bovine race, a canine race, and so on. He added that the human race is made of many colors, just like roses have many colors but they are all flowers. Anyway, if a human being is dead and somehow the skin has been removed from the body, there is no way – I repeat no way - one can tell what color his/her skin was. We are all part of the human race – there is no white race or yellow race, etc. Why can’t people in this country get that? In my country I have known many intermarriage couples – for years – I remember one when I was going to school – in the 50s and nobody thought anything of it – but that was not in the USA though which is one of the most religious and most racist country in the western world.
It is definitely as you say, Vagabonde. Although, I might argue about the most religious. We CLAIM to be religious, but as you know, most are not actually such. All we have to do is to look at those who "pray" for the President's death and those who rant against homosexuals and on and on. They only think they are religious.
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