Antimiscegenationism

Sometimes you come across a point of view that's so different you can't help but be intrigued by it.

Such is the case with Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Louisiana's Tangipahoa Parish. He recently denied an interracial couple's marriage license out of concern for the couple's children.

My immediate reaction was to argue with Bardwell in my head. First, there's the unfortunate fact that these days marriage seems to have little to do with child-bearing. He can protest the marriage all he wants, but that's not an issue related to having biracial children. (It's a biology thing.)

Second, I started to put together a list of successful biracial people. Mariah Carey, Amerie, and Hines Ward came to mind ... oh! and I almost forgot -- the president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Yet contrary to the natural offense I feel at the man's opinion (being one half of an interracial marriage myself), I'm trying to understand Bardwell's perspective.

He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society.

“I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,” Bardwell said. “In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer.” [Source]

So I can at least understand what he was thinking, even if it's not logically sound. If a doctor can refuse to perform an abortion, can't a justice of the peace deny a marriage license? Maybe, as a justice of the peace, you legally can't.

In any case, the couple's already been married by someone else. To me, case closed.