piles and piles of black friends

[intertribal]

Heard about this from Kissing Suzy Kolber, of all places:

A white 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.

You heard the man!  You let one interracial marriage go through soon they're all gonna want an interracial marriage!  He's just tryin' to protect the little halfbreeds from being born!

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing a story like this maybe a decade ago, about a high school that maybe wanted to prevent interracial dating for a prom or something? And one mixed-race (I hate this term, but basically I hate the term "race"; it's a spurious leftover 19th century term from when people believed there were such things as races--and even then, it was used haphazardly, as in "the Irish race" and other nitwittery)... ahem, where was I... one girl with a black parent and a white parent said, "Well, who am I supposed to date, then?" and the principal said something along the lines of "Yeah, well, that's the problem, isn't it. Your parents made a big mistake."

Hateful.

When we lived in Japan in the early 1990s, I remember a lovely newspaper photo spread of kids who where "mixes"--kids with all kinds of interesting parentage, growing up all over. So much variety in how people can look, a thousand different skin tones, eye-nose-mouth shapes, hair textures---gorgeous. Why can't everyone LOVE that variety. I HATE the notion of pure ANY thing. (except food. I don't want weird contamination in my food.)

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

basically I hate the term "race"; it's a spurious leftover 19th century term from when people believed there were such things as races

Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.

What's funny is that both my maternal and paternal grandparents probably would have preferred to have a son/daughter-in-law of the same race. But by the time my parents got married they were 40 and the grandparents were just glad they were getting married at all - and when I was born, any and all negativity lifted. It did not matter one iota that I was mixed-race to either family, because all they could think about was BABY BABY BABY. I'm sure there are some psycho grandparents out there that wouldn't react this way - I bet they're a small minority however.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You are so, so right. In EVERY case I've ever heard of, families that started out opposed to a marriage on the basis of race or nationality or religion, after time, and often it was the birth of children that did it, the grandparents' generation came round to accepting the union. I know it doesn't always work out that way, but I'm glad it often does.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I heard about it via Facebook (via Jason). Aside from obvious racism: I hate arguments that stem from 'But we're just trying to protect them from suffering.' It always leads to varying degrees of stupid shit, like this. Life needs suffering.

Sidenote: We're doing race relations in the U.S. in my Listening class. I got sick of hearing racial stereotypes, basically.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

I hate arguments that stem from 'But we're just trying to protect them from suffering.' It always leads to varying degrees of stupid shit, like this. Life needs suffering.

Yep.

Wow, good luck. That's a worthy endeavor.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

glad you agree.

thanks. i'm not sure how much i can legitimately get away with, or how much i'm even capable of teaching, but some is better than none. and they know even less about Indians, if possible.

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

"and they know even less about Indians, if possible."

Considering how little Americans know...

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

true. but the surprise when i even mentioned a date before 1500 or the utter shock and silence when I explained the Trail of Tears, these things still get me. i forget that their stereotypes are born of pure ignorance. like when james was all, 'i've never seen a black person before. can i hug you?' (dethorn left, btw.) of course, asking their opinions is the best part... maybe i'll write about it when the week is over.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

i'm a bit scattered right now. not much sleep.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

I have an idea...aside from the ignorance, the biggest problem is essentialism, right. We're doing regions of the US right now, so I stuck in history about the South of course. But they can make dialogues, and I could make them have a dialogue where they have to pretend to be people in the South during desegregation or some shit. Not all black people, or I might come off as trying to put down the Chinese or something (like, 'you guys are 'colored' too, you have to play the black part.' yeah, bad). But otherwise, trying to put yourself in another situation is good. And I need to stop lecturing or they'll never improve their English. :P

[intertribal.livejournal.com]

That sounds like fun. Do they know anything about, you know, Chinese immigrants in California and the railroads and all that? Out of curiosity.

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

Oh man, if I tell them that, they will never come to the U.S. :/

[royinpink.livejournal.com]

seriously, though, some of them are already afraid of american racism, and after 9/11, obama gave them hope that the u.s. wouldn't like, hate them. and whenever i teach something it gets blown way out of proportion, like, "Long ago there were Puritans in the Northeast who thought music and dancing were bad" = "No one in the Northeast likes music today."