Louisiana justice of the peace refuses to marry interracial couple
Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, apparently refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple, out of concern for the children. "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."
In 1967, in the aptly named case of Loving v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court invalidated a state law which made it a felony punishable by one to five years for a black and a white person to be married, as it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. We've come a long way since then, right?
Anytime someone begins a sentence with, "I'm not a racist, but . . ."
Comments
I'm really impressed that he even lets his black friends use his bathroom.
Posted by: Joe | October 16, 2009 5:17 PM