Louisiana JP won't marry interracial couple. Is judge afraid one of their kids will grow up to be a Democratic President?

Children of interracial marriages seem to do just fine: Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Barack Obama, to name a few. What's the real reason for this judge's actions? Is he afraid, perhaps, that interracial children will be too successful, and threaten his power over African-Americans?

No Marriage License for Interracial Couple
AP
October 15, 2009

HAMMOND, La. (Oct. 15) - A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

[Maura Larkins comment: If avoiding divorce is his motive, he shouldn't perform any marriages. White couples frequently get divorced.]

Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone calls from The Associated Press. But Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist.

"I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house," Bardwell said. "My main concern is for the children."

"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."

If he does an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said.

"I try to treat everyone equally," he said..

[Maura Larkins' comment: Can this man hear himself speak? Or is he deaf to his own voice?]

Thirty-year-old Beth Humphrey and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint.

Humphrey told the newspaper she called Bardwell on Oct. 6 to inquire about getting a marriage license signed. She says Bardwell's wife told her that Bardwell will not sign marriage licenses for interracial couples.

"It is really astonishing and disappointing to see this come up in 2009," said American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana attorney Katie Schwartzman. "The Supreme Court ruled as far back as 1963 that the government cannot tell people who they can and cannot marry."...