Friday, October 16, 2009

I'm Glad I Don't Live In Tangipahoa Parish

That's where Justice of the Peace Keith Bardwell is refusing to let people of different races marry each other. In his own words, "I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way." Classic.

This is bad for everybody. But assuming that the judge is consistent about this sort of thing, the people who really have it bad are Asians, who make up 0.39% of Tangipahoa Parish's 100,000 or so residents. They've only got 195 Asians of the opposite sex to marry. Maybe an eighth of those people are around their age, leaving them with 24 or so potential partners, of whom like ten will already be married or gay or something, leaving 14 in the parish, of whom they may know three. (And who knows if Bardwell will let a Japanese dude marry an Indian girl?) Even if you don't have country fever like I do, it's a pretty bad deal.

7 comments:

chris brown said...

I think he should have his license taken away and the couple should go elsewhere to get married instead of being in that bootleg town.

corvus said...

It makes me feel proud that you still remember that one, Neil.

You know, I have continued to be amazed at how many batshit crazy racist statements and actions people have been caught saying and doing since the inauguration. It's like some nerve got exposed that was there all along,but no one really felt like poking. Now it's like millions of people in this country suddenly have a loose tooth. I feel like this marriage incident is that whole current looping back on itself. They don't want to admit what they are, hence the denials, but it's gotten almost impossible to ignore that racism is what it actually is. I mean, the guy's statement reads like a parody of such denials.

As a counterfactual, do you think that Rush's attempt to gain (partial) ownership of the Rams would have gone down in such spectacular flames if it hadn't been for this current line of rhetoric? I feel like, if this stuff hadn't been going on, the rest of us, including NFL players and owners, wouldn't have been so sensitive to Rush's past "misstatements."

Brock said...

IANAL, but I wouldn't be surprised if Justice Bardwell found himself facing prosecution under 18 USC 242:

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, ... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Chrystal K. said...

This guy is a joke.

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