My topic is interracial marriage and couples
discrimination in the United States. I
am from a rural area in Pennsylvania where there is limited interracial
marriages. My first thought was that I would research individuals and share
their stories of discrimination. I then thought that I need another avenue for
research too. I did a search on CNN website for this particular topic of
discrimination. To my surprise, I found that as recently as November of 2009 we
have documented and proven incidents of interracial marriage discrimination in our
justice system.
In
November of 2009 a Louisiana Justice of the peace was pressured to resign for refusing
to marry interracial couples. In October
of 2009 he refused to marry Beth Humphrey, 30, and her boyfriend Terence McKay,
32. Keith Bardwell was the justice of
the peace. He told the couple that they do not do interracial weddings. On October 20th the couple filed a
federal discrimination lawsuit claiming he violated the Equal Protection Clause
of the 14th Amendment. After resigning
Bardwell said that he wouldn’t apologize for what he had done. He had been
refusing to marry interracial couples for years. He truly believed that he was
doing the right thing. It amazes me that as recent as 2009 that there are people
in the justice system that feel this way.
Alabama
was the last state to have a law on its books which banned interracial
marriages. In 1999 a bill was passed to repeal the law from its books. The state
stopped enforcing the law decades ago, but the fact is that the law was never
removed. As state representative Alvin Holmes said, “These kinds of things
represent oppression and slavery and discrimination against black people”. We
are not talking about a time frame of the 1950’s and 60’s here. This is very
recent and truly shows how much more we need to improve things in the United
States.
In
2004 Craig Holcomb the associate head coach for Iona College basketball was
fired. He opened a lawsuit claiming that he was fired for his association with
a person of another race. He was married to a black woman named Pamela
Gauthier. When Craig asked one of the college officers if they had received his
wedding invitation, he responded with,” are you really going to marry that Aunt
Jemima?”. I did not find the end results to the lawsuit brought on my Holcomb,
but the remark made to him regarding his wedding invitation was completely racist.
This type of comment is absurd coming from a person that is representing a
college.
I
have found a couple of people that have agreed to share their personal experiences
with interracial marriage discriminations. I hope they shed some light on the
topic so we can all look at how our society needs to improve.
(2008, April
1). Court: Man Who Says College Fired Him Over Interracial Marriage Can Sue.
Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://.foxnews.com
(1999, March
12). Alabama considers lifting interracial ban. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://.cnn.com
(2009, November 3). Louisiana
justice who refused interracial marriage resigns. Retrieved March 17, 2013, from http://.cnn.com
I have always found the arguments against inter-racial marriage ironic. Usually, the couple is warned against it because of the undue hardship they will face from a racist society that will not understand their loving relationship. How else do you change a racist society then but by marrying and proving that love overcomes racial differences. You may also want to investigate the objections that minority groups themselves have raised to marrying outside of their race or ethnic background. One last thought: A lot of slave owners who would never have thought of marrying their slaves had sex with them including Thomas Jefferson.
ReplyDeleteSOOOOOO....unbelievable that we still as a society don't want to except same sex marriage and multi-racial marriages...what if a person doesn't know their a mix of three different races (for instance a person that was adopted) and wants to marry another person that is more then just one race. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a box, because to think that outside of my box, no one else has excepted multi-cultural marriages is just beyond me!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog topic and I also was shocked that as recently as 2009, a judge would not marry an interracial couple. I wonder if it is now illegal in every state to discriminate like this? I do not know the laws. There are essays in the book that also would be good sources for you to do blog posts on...great first post.
ReplyDeleteI think its disgusting how people are to one another in our world. its horrible that someone would be told that about their wife when they are planning a happy time in their lives. It brings a shadow over their happiness. I unfortunately don't think this will ever change. There will always be people who feel a certain way about someone or something. Its sad!
ReplyDelete