"THE LAND OF THE FREEEEEEEE AND THE HOME OF THE....."

I am writing this this morning mostly because I am emotionally moved by this particular case and not because it is especially "legally" significant because with any hope it won't be repeated and it isn't standard practice. I should start at the beginning.... I was reading an essay last week on the writer of the "Star Spangled Banner" who we all learned about in elementary school as a great man by the name of Frances Scott Key. The thing that they didn't teach us is that the same man who wrote the words, "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave" was a slave owner in Frederick, Maryland.

That song was created in 1814 and as with all history, I try to view the hypocrisy of Mr.Key within the time period and environment that he lived in and so as much as it irritates me to hear the Star Spangled Banner with the knowledge of its writer, I respect it as our anthem.

What I don't respect is what was found in a small article on the bottom of page A9 of the New York Times today and what was barely mentioned on the cable news. A Justice of the Peace, Keith Bardwell, who forbid the marriage of Beth Humphrey, a white woman and Terence McKay, who is black, in the State of Louisiana this week in 2009. Further disturbing was that this "allegedly" learned man and justice of the peace stated his reasoning as "There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage. I think that those children suffer, and I won't help put them through it."

For those of you reading this who may need legal backup, it has been ILLEGAL to not allow interracial marriage since 1967. Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court, by a 9-0 vote, declared Virginia's anti-miscegenation statute, the "Racial Integrity Act of 1924", unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

The Tangipahoa Parish where Bardwell is a Justice of the Peace is a parish of just over 100,000 that was 70% white and 29% black in 2009. Justice of the Peace Bardwell was born in 1956 and was 12 years old when the Loving decision changed the status of blacks and whites in marriage in Louisiana. He has been a Justice of the Peace since 1975 and began as an elected Democrat and then changed parties to the Republican party in 2004. By doing simple math, we arrive at the fact that Mr.Bardwell became a justice of the peace at age 21. He is a high school graduate and by trade, he is a cabinet maker aside from his political career.

Allow me to assure you that I am not an elitest and that I do not think or believe that all Justices of the Peace or Judges must have went to law school. In all honesty, I went to law school with some people who I am fearful for those that they represent. There are some far smarter people than just the ones who managed to get through a graduate program just as there are some wonderful midwives who are far superior to obstetricians. But this case in particular is sad....

I find it sad commentary on the United States when we have finally elected a black President, we have finally found marriage possibilities (still struggling but closer) for homosexual couples, and yet this type of inexcusable ignorance or, worse yet, lack of adherence by the government, encourages a divide between citizens of the United States.

How does this story make only a snippet on the bottom of page 9A in a major newspaper and why is the Governor Bobby Jindal not yelling louder to protect the image of what this does to race relations in his state.