From the Nov. 2, 2009, issue of Time Magazine:
"I'm not a racist. I just don't believe in mixing the races that way." — Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana, explaining why he refused to grant a marriage license to an interracial couple. Bardwell added that he has "piles and piles of black friends" but believes the children of mixed raced couples "suffer"
"Perhaps he's worried the kids will grow up and be President." — Bill Quigley, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, noting that President Barack Obama is the product of an interracial marriage
I've heard the saying during my life that children born out of an interracial marriage "don't have a chance," that "people don't know how to approach," and that "they will be outcasts." Heard it not from people that believed that, but were stating how others would perceive them. I didn't believe it. Didn't understand it, but the first quote above goes to show there are still people in the U.S. that believe that way. What a disgrace. What ignorance. Mr. Bardwell can spin his thoughts any way he wants, but to me, that's still racism. Oh, and it's wrong.
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Recently, columnist Leonard Pitts wrote about Rush Limbaugh and how Limbaugh was dumped by fellow investors who are interested in purchasing the St. Louis Rams. A number of players and even the head of the National Football League Players Association spoke out against having Limbaugh as an owner.
Pitts wrote the following in his Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009, column:
How cruel to have it all snatched away from you. And why? Because a bunch of black African-American Negroes start making noise? What reason do they have to be upset with you?
Just because you once called Philadelphia Eagles star Donovan McNabb overrated, the victim of media too eager to see a black quarterback do well?
Just because you referred to Barack Obama and Halle Berry as "Halfrican Americans"?
Just because you told your listeners Obama's economic program is "reparations"?
Just because you called Obama "the little black man-child"?
Just because you said the NFL "all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips"?
Just because you once told a black caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back"?
One ESPN reporter claimed that NFL players are mercenaries and don't care who owns the team. But that's lumping all the players into the same group. Sure there would be some that want the paycheck more than they care who they play for, but not all.
Limbaugh is divisive. Polarizing. He has a huge forum for his opinion. And his comments do not fall on deaf ears, even in the NFL. The other investors decided he would be more trouble than he was worth.
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This week will mark a year since we elected Barack Obama as our 44th president and even he said recently on The Late Show with David Letterman: "First of all I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."
But as far as we've come in ridding ourselves of racism, we still have a ways to go. Hopefully, we're closer than some public figures make it look like we are.
Edwin Quarles is night editor of The Lufkin Daily News.
