Bigoted Louisiana Justice of the Peace: 'I'm not racist, I let blacks use my bathroom'

Un-frigging-believable

I'll bet he's willing to let blacks clean his toilet, too. No, not racist at all. IMO, even more appalling is the fact that only 74% of the respondents to a poll accompanying the MSNBC story thought that Bardwell should be fired - http://bit.ly/4tAOLu

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by: Frederick @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:09:12 AM CDT

Not surprising actually

Remember - the last two constitution-based interracial marriage bans (South Carolina and Alabama) to be done away with symbolically (they'd been, of course, made inoperative by Loving v. Virginia) via referendum were only done away wih by 60-40 margins.  

And these were relatively recently.  One was in 1998 and the other in 2000.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:17:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ugh

I would have thought that the votes of non-Southern respondents to the MSNBC poll would have made the percentage a lot higher. (By comparison, in 2007 94% of respondents told Gallup that they would be willing to vote for a Black President - http://bit.ly/1FxjQr). Thank goodness we live in a "post-racial society," right?

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by: Frederick @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:41:11 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Reality

By comparison, in 2007 94% of respondents told Gallup that they would be willing to vote for a Black President

The only reason the wingnuttia 'accept' Clarence Thomas's interracial marriage is that, in general, the public never has to see Supreme Court justices' families except, possibly, at confirmation time.  Hence, they can conveniently 'forget' that Thomas is defiling a white woman - yet they can selectively access the fact whenever they want to defend him as a 'Republican civil rights hero'.

Even though the public at large was aware that Obama himself came from a mixed marriage, I'd bet every bit or money imaginable that if Michelle was white, he'd still be Sen. Obama.

That's a hypothetical.

Here's a real-world application:  I'm a white transsexual woman, in a relationship with a non-trans woman.  My sister is white, married to a black man and they have two kids.  My mother is from Mississippi, born at the beginning of the depression (all siblings older), and is one of the few members even of her extended family to ever move away from Mississippi.

Take a wild guess as to which one my mom's two children are welcome among those hard-core baptist relatives of ourse in Mississippi?  

Now, I'm under no illusions.  I haven't seen any of them in over 25 years, and, even then (long before I transitioned) any time I'd show up there, they all went into 'convert the heathen' mode, and I'm certain that that's the only reason I'd be 'welcome' there now - to try to 'cure' me.

But, that's the key.  A transsexual? 'Curable' in their psychotic world.  But, a white woman who's been with a black man?  Game over.

And did I mention that the one time that my sister did go visit some of those relatives along with her oldest daughter (which would have been only 10 or so years ago), said daughter left with the memory of some of her own relatives referring to her as 'the little n****r baby' (direct quote per my niece and my sister)?

Yeh - America is 'post-race' to the same extent that the Vatican is 'post-opulence'.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 10:10:07 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

One point of disagreement:

Had he married a white partner-track associate at Dorsey & Whitney or wherever they both worked...Obama wouldn't even BE a senator.

I think he'd be the most popular law professor at the University of Chicago.

But wait, there's more!

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by: PhoenixRising @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 10:20:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

As I hit 'post'

Had he married a white partner-track associate at Dorsey & Whitney or wherever they both worked...Obama wouldn't even BE a senator.

As I hit 'post' I thought the same thing.  That's what I get for finally pulling up on the cynicism throttle :)

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 10:45:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

$$$ incoming

Look on the bright side, at least the couple will be able to go on a fabulous honeymoon AND be able to buy a big-ass villa with the money they are gonna get when they sue.

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by: Snownova @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:09:41 AM CDT

Except...

I treat them just like everyone else

Except that, under color of law (please note: that's not a racial pun, its magic language from the Civil Rights Act of 1868), you prevent them from marrying white people.

Why would anyone see a problem with that?

Oh...

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:14:14 AM CDT

Let's start all over again

I am continually amazed by the ignorance, bigotry, and sheer hate that lives within us.  Is the hope for the survival of our species or shall we destroy ourselves?  Well, look at the bright side, God will be able to start all over again; maybe this time he will get it right.

De-

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by: De- @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:30:36 AM CDT

God?

You mean evolution.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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by: QScribe @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 11:13:46 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Other way around

Well, look at the bright side, God will be able to start all over again; maybe this time he will get it right.

Actually if life began anew, the one thing that should change in order to prevent most pain, suffering and death that has occurred would be to never bring the concept of religion into existence.

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:35:00 AM CDT

AP mysteriously leaves out the money quote

I just read this story on MSNBC.com and it was missing the money quote. I actually found the story last night via another blog who had a link to the story on Yahoo. That story had the quote about the toilet. It's a bit disingenuous for AP, USA Today and MSNBC to leave out what is clearly the most damning evidence. If you're going to run the story why not include the words out the idiot's own mouth that condemn him?

They need to be called on this. If Yahoo can carry the unvarnished, unedited article why can't the big guys?

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by: truebluetexan @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:36:32 AM CDT

Majority of Louisiana is biracial

Something in the swamp water. The steamy heat.  

...Ready to Go!!

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by: Fired Up @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 09:39:42 AM CDT

I think that this shows...

once and for all that racism has not magically vanished and that racism and homophobia tend to originate with the same source.

He probably would have flown into a rage had a gay couple turned up.

I can see it now...

"No, ya'll may not use mah bathroom...That's only for good clean christian folk and ni***ers!"

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by: SciFi Geek @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 10:00:57 AM CDT

LOL-exactly!

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by: kevinchi @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 10:10:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

"I have piles and piles of black friends."

Well, he has piles and piles of something, all right.  I'm just not sure it's friends.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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by: QScribe @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 11:15:17 AM CDT

I have piles and piles of black friends

just because the secretary, janitor, receptionist, fast food cashier, bus driver, and others that we see everyday and may exchange a few words of pleasantries , does not make them "friends". The word is too broadly defined

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by: henry81 @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 13:43:36 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

it's not the heat it's the stupidity

Until the late 1980s early 1990s Louisiana still had the "one drop" law - that determined that if a person had "one drop" of African blood they were "colored" and that's what was on their birth certificate. A woman sued over this, because when she looked in the mirror she appeared Caucasian, but "colored" was on her birth certificate.  

So this justice of the peace was raised in this endemically racist culture - the way Louisiana remains today. What's so odd about his strange decision is that very fact, that the majority of people in Louisiana are a mix of many ethnicities (or races).

There's a saying in New Orleans - it's not the heat it's the stupidity.

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by: planetspinz @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 11:43:40 AM CDT

More insideous than standard fare racism, just hating Blacks

They are tapping into the miscegenation sh*t, of mixing White and Black blood. By doing this they can even get a small amount of Blacks who don't like bi-racial couples, to buy into this cr*p too.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 11:56:32 AM CDT

Someone on Huffpo said the should throw the book at this Justice of the Peace

I answered
finding a book in Louisiana is the challenge

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 11:58:50 AM CDT

But the real question...

... will the Obama Department of Justice follow the pattern and defend this?

Stormie
Religious beliefs are not a basis upon which to affirm or deny civil rights.

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by: StormWalker @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 11:59:53 AM CDT

Defend what?

What this guy did is against the law.

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by: SciFi Geek @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 12:20:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You want to bet this moron hits KO's Worst list tonite?

Question:  What does an atheist do when they fall to the floor and start "speaking in tongues"?

Answer: Get a CAT scan.

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by: Snooky Ookums @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 12:17:22 PM CDT

Maybe next week.

Tonight was the repeat of KO's excellent Special Comment on Health Care Reform!

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by: PSzymeczek @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 21:10:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Some other possibilities:

* He was coming out strongly against Jim Crow/segregation.

* He meant that he isn't afraid they'll steal the toilet paper, soap or knickknacks.  Or something.

* The reporter made the whole thing up, because it's pretty unbelievable.

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by: lw @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 17:20:19 PM CDT

Just as an observation....

I had posted this in my diary Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 19:35:28 PM EDT...

Listen to "TransTalk" every Thursday at 4-5pm ET on http://www.falconradio.org

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by: Marlene @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 17:59:00 PM CDT

We're missing a WONDERFUL opportunity here...

Think about it.  Mr. Bardwell is certainly entitled to his first amendment right to believe any bone-headed thing he wants.  For all we know, it's a deep-founded religious belief. Does that mean he's entitled to make law, or exempt himself from the law?  Of course not, though the argument is made that same sex marriage "forces" JPs to violate their religious beliefs, and we should be this ramming down the throats (er, excuse the metaphor) of those arguing against same gender marriage on the premise that it might violate some clerk's (or JP's) religious beliefs.  One has every right to belief... but not to any particular job.  

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by: richmx2 @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 22:01:51 PM CDT

O, cut the guy some slack!

Let's take JP Bardwell at his word; he's totally concerned about (hand over heart, eyes lowered respectfully) the children. Just think about it. A black man marrying a white woman in the United States in the Twenty-First Century... why, the mind reels! Who knows what could happen to those poor kiddos? One of them might grow up to be President or something! One never knows, do one?

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by: ChicagoMolly @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 22:06:55 PM CDT

The local NEWS here in Louisiana had an interview with the bi-racial couple

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 22:12:36 PM CDT

That tears it!

There's no doubt about the sex of God. Only a man could fuck up this world this bad.

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by: ThePhoenix @ Fri Oct 16, 2009 at 23:58:59 PM CDT

We're a democracy....LET'S VOTE!!

That's right folks. I think the good folks of Louisiana should VOTE on this very important, moral issue.
I wouldn't support it, of course, because some of my best friends ae inter-racial couples.
Lets see what happens...and do whatever the majority says is best.
LOL...LOL...LOL...
Stuart & Robert Wyman-Cahall
Las Vegas, NV 89142

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by: Stuart & Robert Wyman-Cahall @ Sat Oct 17, 2009 at 17:59:13 PM CDT