So, Mr. Justice of the Peace, Sir. How's Life 4 U These Days? :)

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.

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. “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 plans to enroll in the University of New Orleans to pursue a masters degree in minority politics.

Humphrey [...] says Bardwell’s wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples. “I’ve been a justice of the peace for 34 years and I don’t think I’ve mistreated anybody,” Bardwell said. “I didn’t tell this couple they couldn’t get married. I just told them I wouldn’t do it.”

First point: My husband and I had EVERY odd against us starting out. Somehow, the smart-mouthed-and-way-too-outspoken-fresh-out-of-boot-camp troubled white girl ended up with the too-sure-of-himself-but-couldn’t-pass-up-a-chick-that-wasn’t-chasing-him black star football player. Turned out, a year and a half later, we were expecting our first child. We were going to be teen parents. {beaten odd #1}

Skip forward some and reflect. We were young {beaten odd #2}… we both were products of single parent, female-led households {beaten odd #3}, high school dropouts {beaten odd #4}, little money… ok we were completely flat BROKE… {beaten odd #5} and let’s go ahead and point out the obvious: we were an interracial couple {beaten odd #6} in SOUTH Mississippi {beaten odd #7}. We both grew up just as close to poverty {beaten odd #8} as you can get and had barely any example as to what a normal marriage consisted of {beaten odd #9} (besides by grandparents).

Justice Bardwell: explain to me from YOUR perspective {since interracial couples don’t stay together long} how my two WHITE parents and his two BLACK parent’s didn’t stay together, but he and I have been together since 1997 and just celebrated 8 years of marriage despite having the stress of five children and financial difficulties (which are supposedly the top two ranking causes of divorce and/or marital displeasure in our nation…) but somehow are happier than we’ve ever been. I’d really love to hear YOUR thoughts on how in the WORLD a black man and a white woman could possibly be surviving the elements weathered under the umbrella of marriage, especially in our circumstances. And, oh GOD, our children – they must be SO miserable, right?!

By the way, I’m sure all your black friends are SO appreciative that you allow them to grace your BATHROOM! Somebody give this hillbilly a freakin cookie for his good deed of the day. Biracial children have it harder than any other child? Um, need I remind you that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is biracial? Doesn’t seem as though their opportunities are all that limited anymore. It’s not society that limits them. It is YOU and those like YOU. YOU are what’s wrong with the world, Justice Bardwell. By the way, when’s the last time you were President? What? You mean a skinny lil ole mixed boy could get all the way up to the white house, but YOU couldn’t? Seems that there’s at least ONE biracial child in the world that society didn’t have any problem accepting, huh? Well, doesn’t that defy all logic? Idiot.

The truth of the matter is that this coward is a racist. He is a bigot. As Ouiser (Steel Magnolias, 1989) would say, he “is a boil on the butt of humanity.” You’re concerned about the children? No. You’re concerned about a woman whose appearance reminds you that she could be your own daughter marrying a black man – someone that in your eyes doesn’t deserve your women, your land, your country, or your rights… and you used abused the power entrusted to you to see to it that what rights you could withhold, you did withhold. Truth hurts. Now you’ve been exposed and it’s YOUR rights and YOUR authority that are now coming into question. How does that feel, Mr. Justice, Sir?

The children… it’s about the children. What’s ironic is that my beautiful GORGEOUS children are more confident in their honey-caramel, perfectly sunkissed skin than I ever was in mine. They are HAPPY. They are SECURE. They are LOVED. It’s not up to the races to decide who they are willing to accept. There are white people who don’t accept black people; black people who don’t accept white people. When are the “powers that be” going to get together and *decide* that one of those races are going to have to stop procreating because their offspring just aren’t ACCEPTABLE?? See how completely ridiculous you sound? Have you even given any type of THOUGHT to your stance against interracial marriage, or did you just go by the generations of nooses and white supremacist mentality that have apparently been encoded into your DNA from birth. Be sure to say thanks to Ma and Pa Bumpkin.

YOU don’t believe in mixing the races that way? That’s fine. You married who you wanted to marry. What exactly does YOUR prejudice have to do with THEIR decision as to who they wish to marry? Did you not take an oath to uphold the LAW? The CONSTITUTION? Did you not state, even yourself, that you wish to treat everyone fairly? Let me make something clear to you – you are not the law. You were trusted to uphold it, obey it, and respect it – none of which are evident in this situation. You cannot just choose to effect change on the LAW. The LAW says that it is not in your power to restrict marriage, nor is it a part of your duty under that Justice title to reject application for marriage at your discretion. Just so you know.

These two individuals fit the law’s terminology of what a couple eligible for marriage in the US must be. I cannot say the same in reference to you fitting the description of what a Justice should be. And just for the record, your mama is fat. Just sayin…

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