"’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 [to each other], they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else.’” What should I say? So many things come to mind. Maybe I should give a LOL, as LMBO, or a SMH, but this comment almost leaves me speechless. Keith Bardwell is a justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana who refuses to perform mixed raced marriage ceremonies. He, according to his standards, is not a racist because he has “piles” of black friends and “they use [his] bathroom.” He will not sign a marriage license for couples of differing races because he does not want the potential bi-racial children to feel unaccepted. Sounds utterly ridiculous, but I wonder, what is your definition of racism?
Does having piles of ethnic friends in close proximity mean that you are not a racist? Does proximity tolerance of other ethnic groups mean that you don’t participate or contribute to racist systems? Does eating with a Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban mean that you are pro-Latino and that you have done your part to dismantle racism in your community, your workplace, and your church?
According to the Damascus Road Anti-Racism team, “Racism = Race Prejudice + The Misuse of Power By Systems and Institutions.” I have no doubt Mr. Bardwell is a racist. He is a racist who does not necessarily hate people of color, but a racist whose raced based prejudice has combined with his institutional power to create barriers. There are many people with prejudice who don’t have the power to do harm. Those people are obtuse, aggravating, and discouraging, but their influence is limited. Then there are people like Mr. Bardwell who are in some ways kind and generous. They have “piles” of Racial/Ethnic friends who can eat at their homes, worship at their churches, and use their toilets, but their influence is backed by the system. Their prejudice is magnified by the power of the institution and its effect is far reaching.
It is amazing that Mr. Bardwell does not see the harm he is doing. “Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said….If he did an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said. ‘I try to treat everyone equally,’ he said.”
What is your perception of racism? Where are you fitting in to fight racism in church? Are you simply collating and piling up Racial/Ethnic relationships for the appearance of being anti-racist or are you changing systems and using your power to bring about real change.
Read the full article Associated Press article about Justice of the Peace Bardwell at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091016/ap_on_re_us/us_interracial_rebuff.