.:Dreams and Swords:.

Interracial - A Dirty Word

Here's a funny thing I found while looking at my homepage this evening:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_re_us/us_interracial_rebuff

This article is about how a justice of the peace denied marrying about couple because they were an interracial couple. Out of all the reactions I experienced while reading this article, the one I didn't expect was somewhat bizarre - it slayed me. Seriously. I laughed for a minute or two.

What got me going was a quote from the justice of the peace answering the obvious question: was he racist? The obvious answer came, but it was the way he said it that made me think of part of a comedy skit by D.L. Hughley about how, if you count the amount of people in your house of an opposite color, you have problems. You may think you don't have a racial issue, but determining the amount of, say black friends you have over for a dinner party or something, especially where you feel the need to ask yourself that question, brings up a very obvious personal dilemma.

Here is what the justice of the peace was quoted as saying:

"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way," Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. "I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

Its the bathroom part that kills me. Really? Is that necessary to convince everyone that you're not a racist by the fact that you let certain people use your bathroom? Really, really?

The man's reasoning behind not marrying the couple was his belief that children of their union would not be accepted in either racial society (she was White, he was Black). As the product of an interracial couple, I can see where he has concerns. Things haven't always been easy, and I know many people who have parents of different races might feel the same way.

But the idea not to marry people because of the children they produce who might experience come acceptance issues from either side of the racial mixture is scary. To me it says (obviously I'm a little too close to the issue to be truly objective) that I and people like me shouldn't exist because we might be ostracized as we grow up. That's ridiculous!

That line of reasoning could also be used for economic status, religious beliefs, geographical location, and the list goes on. We, as a human race, are going to mix and mingle when it comes to procreation. It what makes the world interesting and exciting. If we stayed all in our "own" groups of things life would be boring and superficial. There is always a chance for hardship, but that just means working on fixing prejudices, not stopping a union of love or the possibility of creating human life.

Well, anyway, just thought I'd share.