Time For Justice To Do The Right Thing

By Bill de Blasio and Chirlane McCray

When we first started dating, we faced many challenges as an interracial couple. Resistance came from friends and even family, but there was one experience more direct and threatening than all the rest. It was 1991 and Jungle Fever, a Spike Lee film documenting the trials of an interracial couple living in New York, had just come out. We were riding the subway when a group of African American teenagers got in our car and began taunting us, chanting Jungle Fever, loudly. It was degrading and we were scared, but all we could do was sit, pretending to ignore them. When the subway pulled into the next station, we quickly got out leaving them behind, but never forgetting what happened.

We experienced similar acts of intolerance in those early years, but we also heard people voice opinions eerily similar to those of a Louisiana justice of the peace who recently denied an interracial couple their right to marry. Throughout his career, Keith Bardwell has consistently refused to give marriage licenses to interracial couples because he believes their relationships won't last. Now, despite repeated calls from elected leaders and national organizations, Mr. Bardwell refuses to resign or even apologize.

It is incredible that such blatant racism could be practiced by a public official in any part of our nation. We have been married for 15 years. We have two beautiful children, Chiara and Dante. Family is the center of our lives and represents who we each are and what we believe in. In the campaign for public advocate, the number two citywide position in New York City government, we made a decision together to present our family to the voters as almost all campaigns do. Even here in New York that choice came with a certain amount of scrutiny and sometimes criticism. But the historic election of President Barack Obama opened the door to the politics of racial possibility in a way our country has never seen before. We hoped we could help continue the positive public discourse President Obama started; that we could help change how we look at our elected leaders and each other.

While President Obama embodies how far our nation has come, we cannot sit back and ignore the racial inequalities that still too often rise to the surface. Whether it's an interracial couple in Louisiana being denied a marriage license, or the fact that black and Hispanic New Yorkers represent 90% of the people who are stopped and frisked by police, no part of our country is immune to this country's history of racial struggle.

When these disturbing inequalities re-merge in public officials or public policies, we all have a responsibility to respond quickly and forcefully. There is no question Keith Bardwell should have his license revoked, but we must do more. The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department should conduct an immediate investigation to hold Mr. Bardwell accountable for his actions and uncover any other instances where justices of the peace, judges or clergy members have denied couples their right to marry because of their race. No one practicing racism should be allowed to hold a position of public trust now or in the future.

 

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Comments

[Indon]

Agreed.

A position as a judge isn't a license to express your every personal opinion. It represents a series of duties, and in his case, one of those duties is to marry people - and as a government employee, last I checked, it's quite illegal for him to discriminate in that duty on the basis of race.

He, and anyone else in his position trying to enforce racial purity upon the American people by refusing such services, are in violation of the law and should be punished accordingly.

[like-mind]

This judge is a throw-back and needs to be replaced.
Best line ever: "He's concerned their biracial child will grow up to be Prez" har

[Carl Caroli]

Intolerance should not be tolerated. Everyone has the right to chose with whom they share their lives and no one has the right to pass judgment. Any official doing otherwise should be immediately removed from public office, no questions asked.

[DeaconJoey]

So what are you going to do as Public Advocate about Stop and Frisk? That's what I'd like to know. You may not have the power to change people's opinions..­.. but you may have some power to ensure the law is equally applied.

[Paramendra Bhagat]

Amen.

[demfriend]

Like so many others, I believed we had made a giant step forward with racial equality when we elected Obama to be President, but it has not been what I had hoped. Since Obama begain his run we have heard so many people, especially those he ran againest throwing out to those who just might do the actions, that it was OK to attack Obama in any way! This country which has suffered from the assasinations of great men and JFK and his brother RFK top the list with Martin Luther King and Abe Lincoln among the others we do not need another person to fall from another person's gun. To think any judge would determine they could deny the rights of any citizens based on color saddens me as racism is still hidden under the covers of "personal rights to say and believe freely". It is hidden in the minds of those who speak in a "code of hatred" or outright hatred of anyone different than they are. But mainly it has been ingrained in our countries history and those who cam before us and we must decide, all of us, to change that.

[alanbcormack]

Great article, Bill! My wife and I are an interracial couple, too. Together, we will show the world that we are all in the same family. You and Chirlane are a huge inspiration to all of us. I'll be watching for your election victory in a couple of weeks.
Best always,
Alan B. Cormack
Oregon, Wisconsin

[voltage356]

Thank you for sharing your story with us and speaking up about this shameful travesty of injustice.