As I read the unbelievable story of how Louisiana Judge Keith Bardwell showed that racism is indeed a mental illness by denying an interracial couple a marriage license because they were, well, of different skin colors, I thought about President Obama.
As Americans know, perhaps even Judge Keith Bardwell, Barack Obama is the product of an interracial marriage between a black man and a white woman. Terence McKay and his girlfriend Beth Humphrey, the victims of Judge Bardwell's racism are black male and white female.
What was the reason Judge Bardwell gave for his mindless actions? "I do it to protect the children, he reportedly said. The kids are innocent and I worry about their futures."
Ok, so Judge Bardwell's trying to prevent the creation of future Presidents of the United States, right? Because if you think about it, if laws against interracial marriage were still on the books and enforced, we would never have a President Obama.
But my concern is that folks like Judge Bardwell are allowed to practice anywhere in America. That he's active says as much for Louisiana as it does for him. Governor Bobby Jindal should be very concerned about the message of racial hostility Louisiana sends out to the World with Judge Bardwell's obvious violation of the civil rights of Americans.
What's even more frightening is Judge Bardwell doesn't think he's racist. According to the Associated Press, Bardwell said this:
"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."
That, folks, is the statement of one who in my view is irrational.
I totally agree with my SFGate.com CityBrights friend Yobie Benjamin, who writes:
This case is important as it shows the deep seated ignorance of some people in power. In the deep south, the justice of the peace is an important position of power and influence and is an elected position. From another point-of-view, the case is clearly no different from the discrimination gay couples suffer when government refuses to grant them right to marry.
But where I depart from Yobie's blog is that the case also shows how much we allow ignorant people to have power. Judge Bardwell proved this himself when he said that he had "piles of black friends". Obviously they're the kind of "friends" who are also afraid to challenge him because he's a judge.
Judge Bardwell's friends are also to blame for allowing him to serve as a law enforcement official without challenge. We as a society must take a far more agressive stance against racism than we have done to date.
I think one action should be for the NFL to relocate the 2013 Super Bowl away from New Orleans unless Judge Bardwell is removed and the sooner the better.
In fact, all bowl games planned for the Louisiana Superdome should be relocated if Judge Bardwell remains in power in any capacity in Louisiana.
And online we must take steps to stamp out racism, for good. For example, the subject for Blog Action Day 2010 should be 'racism and how to end it'.
We as Americans have to take steps to make sure there are no more people with the racist attitude that Judge Bardwell has.
Enough is enough.
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