Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License
Just a quick FYI…if you can count the number of Blacks you have dealings with, even if you are counting by the “pile,” then chances are your a*s is racist. Props to White Girl Gone Crazy for the story!
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.
Bardwell estimates that he has refused to marry about four couples during his career, all in the past 2 1/2 years.
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 is white and he is black. 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.”
“It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009,” said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzmann. She said the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 “that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry.”
The ACLU sent a letter to the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, which oversees the state justices of the peace, asking them to investigate Bardwell and recommending “the most severe sanctions available, because such blatant bigotry poses a substantial threat of serious harm to the administration of justice.”
“He knew he was breaking the law, but continued to do it,” Schwartzmann said.
According to the clerk of court’s office, application for a marriage license must be made three days before the ceremony because there is a 72-hour waiting period. The applicants are asked if they have previously been married. If so, they must show how the marriage ended, such as divorce.
Other than that, all they need is a birth certificate and Social Security card.
The license fee is $35, and the license must be signed by a Louisiana minister, justice of the peace or judge. The original is returned to the clerk’s office.
“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.”
October 16th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
smh where was this judge when Khloe and Lamar wanted to get hitched.
October 16th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
this is wrong! how can he even justify saying that he dosent want them having mixed kids? But you're not racist? What gives him the right to decide what is right when it comes to some one else reproducing? Oh yeah he can kiss his job goodbye.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Unbelievable.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
[...] Couple Denied Marriage License [ Miss Jia ] More PostsBowling In Bikinis…Rapper Trick Daddy Has Lupus, Plus Kanye’s Ex Moves [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Just all types of wrong. Hope he gets his license to marry people revoked.
You know what, I hate it when people do some racial stuff, then say "Oh, but I'm not racist. I have lots of black friends."
October 16th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Well I be golly gee, they even lettin da coluhds use da bafroom nah!
*dances a jig*
but don't let massa catch you whistlin' at dat white gal!
-D!
October 16th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
i the man who wanted to get married in that pic above or just some random man
October 17th, 2009 at 12:43 am
im not naive to racism, but what year are we in and THIS is still going on? besides whats the point, you think being a justice of the peace of some rinky dink town, discriminating like you're the majority is actually going to make a diff in our world?
p.s. "piles and piles of black friends" check his basement lol
October 17th, 2009 at 7:39 am
RACISM IS ALIVE AND WELL AND IN THE FLESH!!!!!
It never died people, it just got quiet for a while.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Ridiculous.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I believe that the races should remain pure as did MalcolmX.we know this will not happen it is 2 late.I have mixed relatives that I love but it is really wrong to change what GOD has created.if it continues generations down the road all people will become white and their will be no more black yellow or red. so who is the joke on.why are blacks able 2 have b.e.t.black college funds naacp etc. but if whites have white entertainment tv or white college funds they r tagged as racist? Blacks r the true racist group of people and steadily becoming more so with time.they have more rights and use this racist thing to get their way…
October 18th, 2009 at 5:39 am
i am black myself.our race will be no more if this watering down of our color continues, and yes i knoe plenty about racisim i am 64 years old and from the south so i have experienced it 1st hand.i have picked cotton and been beaten and called nigger but i want OUR race to continue unlike these younf thugs of today that have no idea what abuse truly is.they want to bring up what happened 2 their grandparents and greatgranparents haveing really no idea what true racisim is.most only want a free ride and give our race a bad name.i worked for what little i have and these no good ypunf rappers r causing the blacks to turn into a terrible people nothing like what there grandfathers and such were like.be proud 2 be black dont try to marry out of race thinking it makes u look like these whites.we r a different people open your blind eyes and see instead of listening to the racist blacks set and example for your BlACK children not these watered down ones that have no idea where they fit in as my grand children are. god bless this mixed up world.why not be proud 2 marry a black woman and not a white one.it does not make you look better it makes u look as a traitor 2 your own race.
October 18th, 2009 at 5:49 am
i to agree with you on this mostly.our people r becoming a bad bunch they all are not but the majority are. i an 54 and saw a lot of what you did but missed some of what you experienced juan frankie.i have mixed grandchildren that do not fit in. the black children call then names as do the whites it is a mess what has become of our race.and when mixed we become fairer of skin mixed again yet fairer and so on so yes we will some day be white as you say you can say it makes the white darker when mixed but next time mixed it becomes lighter still so yes i believe this is true.god made us black for a reason and be proud to be as you are and remain this way
October 18th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Wow do some people really say shit like that? Like the woman off Bruce Lee movie saying the kids will be nothing but jigsaw pieces that noone will add to their puzzle? Wow
October 18th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
[...] Interracial Couple is denied marriage license – MissJia [...]
October 19th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
all im gonna say is research before you speak of what GOD created, cuz according to the bible, and science, we all came from one civilization, thus ONE RACE, we just adapted to different areas of the world
October 20th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Thank you plaidstripes! You people are taking about racism but are still saying its not right for blacks and whites to mix because they will ruin what God has created. Thats a racist statement.