http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_interracial_rebuff
I just read this and for some reason it really interested me. Apparently this judge named Keith Bardwell didn't marry couples of mixed race, not because he didn't like the idea of blacks and whites together, but because he felt the children end up suffering from such relationships. Probably an identity crisis type of thing. I mean this is the deep south we're talking about. And I hear some children who are adopted by families who are not of the same race as they also feel distant and not fully attached.
My initial response wasn't immediately that this guy is a racist. But I do feel he let his personal feelings get in the way of his job. And unfortunately they were presented in such a way it made him look racist. Bad enough in a society that's already full of race baiters.
Also you'd think today that such worries over mixed raced children would be non exsistant. I mean c'mon its 2009. A black man is president for Christ's sake! But I'm still surprised even today when I hear people around me talking about things related to this. Like when a good friend of mine brought a white guy home to her parents. They did a double take of course. They accepted him yes. But later on her mother admitted she would have preferred she found a black man. I don't know any white people personally enough to have that kind of conversation but there's no doubt doubt the same kind of things are said. But usually these are just parents talking and they come from a whole different generation than us. So maybe like the Lousiana Judge they share a past that doesn't allow them to see past the color barrier. I can't help but feel the very people who are now branding this guy and his wife a racist, would also have misgivings if their kid's brought home something else outside of their race. Especially two races that have had a lot of conflicts in the history of this country.
I kind of feel sorry for the guy. It sounds like he's trying to be helpful to the future offspring but he did himself in by meddling in the affairs of other people. In the end he really has no right to not marry them just because of what he thinks but at least he referred the couples to people who would. Plus I don't live in Lousiana. I'm in Texas. So I don't know how day to day racial issues are handled down there. But I assume there are still some under currents of rotten feelings and for some reason I think this judge was trying to be helpful. Just in a wrong and somewhat ignorant way.
I just read this and for some reason it really interested me. Apparently this judge named Keith Bardwell didn't marry couples of mixed race, not because he didn't like the idea of blacks and whites together, but because he felt the children end up suffering from such relationships. Probably an identity crisis type of thing. I mean this is the deep south we're talking about. And I hear some children who are adopted by families who are not of the same race as they also feel distant and not fully attached.
My initial response wasn't immediately that this guy is a racist. But I do feel he let his personal feelings get in the way of his job. And unfortunately they were presented in such a way it made him look racist. Bad enough in a society that's already full of race baiters.
Also you'd think today that such worries over mixed raced children would be non exsistant. I mean c'mon its 2009. A black man is president for Christ's sake! But I'm still surprised even today when I hear people around me talking about things related to this. Like when a good friend of mine brought a white guy home to her parents. They did a double take of course. They accepted him yes. But later on her mother admitted she would have preferred she found a black man. I don't know any white people personally enough to have that kind of conversation but there's no doubt doubt the same kind of things are said. But usually these are just parents talking and they come from a whole different generation than us. So maybe like the Lousiana Judge they share a past that doesn't allow them to see past the color barrier. I can't help but feel the very people who are now branding this guy and his wife a racist, would also have misgivings if their kid's brought home something else outside of their race. Especially two races that have had a lot of conflicts in the history of this country.
I kind of feel sorry for the guy. It sounds like he's trying to be helpful to the future offspring but he did himself in by meddling in the affairs of other people. In the end he really has no right to not marry them just because of what he thinks but at least he referred the couples to people who would. Plus I don't live in Lousiana. I'm in Texas. So I don't know how day to day racial issues are handled down there. But I assume there are still some under currents of rotten feelings and for some reason I think this judge was trying to be helpful. Just in a wrong and somewhat ignorant way.
Time Traveller
People should be able to marry WHOEVER they want, WHENEVER they want - REGARDLESS of their skin colour. And
children don't necessarily suffer from mixed race marriages, they suffer from BAD PARENTING. Simple.
