What Age Are We Living In?

This isn't new news anymore, but it is definitely still worth commenting on...

Louisiana JP Refuses Interracial Couple Marriage License...I think my heart stopped when I first read that headline.

Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana JP recently refused to marry an interracial couple. He states that in his experience, these types of marriages do not last long, and the offspring of such relationships are accepted by neither the black community nor the white community; therefore his decision is made solely with the best interest of any future children in mind. I quote him as saying, "I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put the children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves. In my heart I feel the children will suffer later." He says that if he does it for one couple, he must do it for them all because he "treats everyone equally." How noble! ...Can you hear the sarcasm?

I am beginning to feel a little overwhelmed as I sort through all the things wrong with that; however, I will start with the one thing no one can argue against. As a Justice of the Peace, he took an oath to uphold the law. He didn't swear to go by the law unless he didn't agree with it, he didn't promise to follow the law whenever he felt like it, he made an oath to uphold the law at all times, in all matters and in all decisions he makes.

It wasn't all that long ago that what he did was perfectly within the law, in fact it was the law. Pace v. Alabama (1883) confirmed as constitutional the Alabama law that prohibited white persons and non-white persons from marrying, cohabitating, or procreating. On March 20, 1924 the Racial Integrity Act was passed requiring our race to be recorded at birth, and it took the Pace v. Alabama precedent one step further by making the marriage between a white person and a non-white person a felony. However, in 1967 Loving v. Virginia overturned Pace v. Alabama and ended ALL race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

So I must ask myself, "What age are we living in?" It's not 1883, 1924 or even 1966...it is 2009. It is 2009 and there is a Justice of the Peace who has been allowed to break the law and infringe upon the Civil Rights of others without consequence for the past 34 years. Bardwell argues he did not prohibit the couple from marrying, but instead sent them away to get married somewhere else, and that his constitutional rights protect him from having to go against what he feels is acceptable or unacceptable. It is perfectly fine for him to feel or think anything he chooses...we are in America, that's what it's all about, but when he swore to uphold the law, he also swore to never allow his conflicting personal beliefs to interfere with that. It is obvious that he takes neither promise seriously.

I pondered why this man's actions are just now coming to light. By his own admission, he has refused others. Why did they lay down and take it? Why didn't they stand up for themselves? Why didn't they tell someone, anyone, that could help them do something about it? WHY? It is worth the hassle, it is worth the time. It doesn't matter that they were able to go somewhere else and get married, that's not the point. The point is that they never should have had to go somewhere else. Then it all started to make sense to me when Bardwell made his next comment. He mentioned that the Attorney General told him years ago that he would eventually get into trouble for not performing interracial marriages. That's it! Maybe those other couples did tell someone. Maybe they told the wrong someone, a someone like the Attorney General who saw injustice and didn't do anything about it. Maybe they didn't stop at telling one someone, but told another and another, and no one helped. Maybe they didn't know where else to go. Some people have written-off the entire situation by saying, "Oh, it's the South, they are still like that down there. That's just the way it is." Last time I checked we had a Civil War and when the Union won we agreed to unite under one set of laws. So, how is it that the South can act like it's 1860 and others can think that is acceptable?

(Long Sigh)

As for not wanting to place any future children into a bad situation they did not ask for...50% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce, regardless of race. Not a good situation. If there is such concern over whether or not the marriage will last, why not conduct extensive premarital counseling for all couples; those who do not pass, do not get married or recommended to anyone else to marry. But that still doesn't satisfy the problem. 40% of births in 2007 were to unwed mothers, and that number is on the rise. Marriage is no longer a prerequisite for child-bearing. How can he control that?

Even more importantly, where are the background checks, drug tests, personal references, employment checks, et cetra? Shouldn't he make sure no one is a sex offender, or a criminal? What if future children are sexually abused or a parent goes to prison? Not a good situation. What if they are drug addicts or alcoholics? What if the children are neglected, abused or becomes addicts themselves? Not a good situation. What if the couple can't hold down jobs or refuse to work? What if the children wind up homeless? Not a good situation. The list can go on and on, and none of it has anything to do with whether or not the parents are of two different races. By the way, what does society think children growing up under any of those circumstances? Are they accepted? Rejected? Ignored? Are they outcasts? Looked up to? Fall along the wayside? It's obvious he isn't treating all couples equally, and he is most certainly not treating all future children equally. Weren't the children supposed to be his biggest concern?

Society as a whole is a lot more accepting of mixed-race children than he seems to be. Well, he is in the South, and that's just how it is down there. Just kidding! He needs to wake up and see that the nation is moving forward and leaving him behind. Society elected a mixed-race man into the highest office of the United States Government. How much more accepting can it get?