Pharyngula

Posted by: Greg F. | October 15, 2009 11:01 PM

For some reason, every time you hear someone say "now I'm not a [blank]..." the next words out of his or her mouth are exactly the kind of arguments the [blank] uses...

But I agree, the bathroom is pretty original. Though since a bisexual male friend of mine never used a bathroom in my house, does that mean I'm a homophobic sexist?

Posted by: I do it for the lulz | October 15, 2009 11:06 PM

Good times. Like Greg said, it's pretty much as per when people say that phrase. It's like when someone says "No offense" you can be damn sure that the next thing out of their mouth is going to be offensive.

Big fan of the interracial singles ad that was above this post when I posted this comment. :D

Posted by: Stanton | October 15, 2009 11:07 PM

No doubt this judge also quotes heavily from ex Grand Wizard David Duke, too.

Posted by: Alverant | October 15, 2009 11:09 PM

Why does it seem that the conservative christians are the ones allowed to not do parts of their jobs because it offends their religion/morality and not get fired. First the pharmacists who refuse to sell birth control pills, then the bus drivers who refused to drive a bus with an Atheist advertisement, and now this. I remember when muslim cab drivers refused to take passengers with dogs and/or booze and no one coddled them. Now christian conservatives are demanding special rights for themselves so they don't have to do their jobs if it conflicts with their religion. Someone told me that the conservative philosophy includes personal responsibility. I say that's bullshit.

Posted by: Nerd of Redhead, OM | October 15, 2009 11:10 PM

The idiocy of some people astounds me.

Posted by: Silič O'Nopolitanopoulos, Färschdbischuf Beesknees aus Ulm und Klein Elguth, Elector Pharynguline. | October 15, 2009 11:15 PM

I feel somewhat uncomfortable that he's able to pile his 'friends'.

Perhaps he has a coupla blacks in his family tree too.

Posted by: Tuxedo Cartman | October 15, 2009 11:20 PM

Maybe this is the newest tactic in fighting gay marriage. By shifting the Overton window back to the point where we're discussing whether or not interracial marriage is okay, it makes gay marriage seem even more strange and abnormal.

What's next? The immigration scourge of the Irish?

Posted by: Steven Dunlap | October 15, 2009 11:24 PM

The "piles of black friends" verbiage made me picture a pile of bodies in a mass grave. But I guess that's just my imagination running away with me.

In the early 90s there was a high school principal who tried banning mixed race couples at the senior prom. After he told a 16 year-old girl of black and white parents that he had no idea who she could take to the prom and that was the problem he was trying to address her parents sued the school district. He either resigned or was fired. If anyone remembers the details, do tell.

Posted by: Desert Son | October 15, 2009 11:31 PM

Off-topic, but related to the Texas execution thread from a while back:

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/10/15/1015govrace.html

On-topic, it sounds like the judge needs to read up on some of the resources that have been directed Hyperon's way in the last several weeks.

No kings,

Robert

Posted by: Kamaka | October 15, 2009 11:32 PM

@ 14

Very cool, MAJeff. She is the bomb.

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | October 15, 2009 11:36 PM

Very cool, MAJeff. She is the bomb.

True dat. Nina may not have had the best voice in the world. But holy fuck did she know how to put together a song and create an amazing performance. "Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair," "Feeling Good" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" are forever hers. Everyone else just needs to stop trying on those songs.

Posted by: bad Jim | October 15, 2009 11:52 PM

Kamaka: better to have loved a small woman than never to have loved a tall.

I'm sure this judge would be less bothered by a mixed-sex than a mixed-race marriage, even though they're both roughly likely to fail.

Posted by: Kamaka | October 15, 2009 11:54 PM

"Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair," "Feeling Good" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" are forever hers.

Found an anthology on Amazon with all three of those songs...can't wait to get it!

Posted by: CortxVortx | October 15, 2009 11:58 PM

Somewhere, in the junk I've accumulated through the years, is a nice metal sign reading "COLORED" which I liberated from a door on a commercial building in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1970.

Might be a collector's item.

Posted by: Rorschach | October 16, 2009 12:04 AM

Is this legal ? Justice of the peace can refuse a marriage license on racial grounds ?? You're kidding me right?

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | October 16, 2009 12:10 AM

Might be a collector's item.

Might still be in use.

Posted by: Lynna, OM | October 16, 2009 12:21 AM

I have Nina Simone's "After Hours" CD. She and all her relatives can use my bathroom.

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | October 16, 2009 12:37 AM

fuckosaurus, is that you?

ROTFL!

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

He does realize that you don't have to be married to get pregnant, doesn't he? Especially since Louisiana has such a high percentage of births to unmarried women compared to other states.

Posted by: Traveler | October 16, 2009 12:51 AM

Nina:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiaSXO9--OA

Everybody knows about Louisiana, Goddamn!

She's not at her best in that recording. I think this one is much better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUR9yWzN3zc

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | October 16, 2009 12:55 AM

She's not at her best in that recording. I think this one is much better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUR9yWzN3zc

Funny, that;s the one I have on my own computer, and that I posted on facebook (I've been on a total Nina kick tonight). I just posted the one above because it actually showed her performing it :-)
She was one of a kind. I just feel more alive listening to her. So much going on, so many emotions. Again, not a great voice, but an amazing songstress. One of the best.

Posted by: Bill | October 16, 2009 1:04 AM

I'd let you use my bathroom, PZ, and your squid, too!

Posted by: natural cynic | October 16, 2009 1:13 AM

Some kids of interracial marriages do OK. Maybe the judge should get a call from the White House.

Posted by: Shamac | October 16, 2009 1:31 AM

How about a custom-made one just for PZ?

"I like theists. They come to my home, I'm friends with them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else. I just think I'm better than them."

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | October 16, 2009 1:38 AM

Though I usually turn off the lights after 30 seconds or so.

You force friends to shit in the dark because it might cost you a little bit more in electricity? That's pretty heartless.

Posted by: Frankosaurus, Cupcake of Death | October 16, 2009 1:44 AM

"You force friends to shit in the dark because it might cost you a little bit more in electricity? That's pretty heartless."

That's not completely true. I leave them candles and matches. This further saves me on buying aerosol fresheners. Really, it's my bit to save the earth.

Posted by: Janine, She Wolf Of Pharyngula, OM | October 16, 2009 1:59 AM

The justice of the peace refused to conduct an interracial marriage in order to reduce racial violence.

(Yeah, this mean spirited joke is aimed right at the whiny asshole.)

Posted by: Janine, She Wolf Of Pharyngula, OM | October 16, 2009 2:04 AM

Sanction, the whiny asshole has admitted to being dishonest a few times already. It hardly matters if he is for real or not, just killfile his ass.

Posted by: dutchdoc | October 16, 2009 2:09 AM

I just don't believe in mixing the races that way

THAT way?

In what other ways DOES he believe in mixing 'the races'?

Posted by: Sanction, Inherent Antonym | October 16, 2009 2:18 AM

I'm going to listen to Janine and ignore him.

Who?

Posted by: TheChemist | October 16, 2009 2:30 AM

"I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else."

As some say here in the South, "Aw, bless his heart.*" Worse than being a racist fuckwit: Being a racist fuckwit who thinks he's still living in the 1950s. At least he claims to have "black friends" and isn't dragging around lynching pictures like some teabaggers out there.

Still, you don't get a medal for letting the cable guy who happens to be black use your john.

*Translation: Yeah, he's a moron.

Posted by: Anubis Bloodsin the third | October 16, 2009 2:39 AM

#55

"In what other ways DOES he believe in mixing 'the races'?"

Master and Slave?

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | October 16, 2009 2:59 AM

Midnight Rambler,

So that guy thinks "minorities" aren't even Americans? Damn. What do you say about that kind of crazy?

Posted by: Feynmaniac | October 16, 2009 3:01 AM

@frankosoaurus:

You don't seem to be well-liked here. May I inquire as to why?

Many reasons, most relevant to this discussion: citing David Duke to show that racial integration was harmful.

Posted by: uncle remus | October 16, 2009 3:27 AM

Let me guess...black dude, white chick, right? How come the author didn't include this--or at least show a photo--not of the JP (who was only trying to do his job)--but of this ill-fated couple. Maybe now they'll have time to reconsider.

Posted by: uncle remus | October 16, 2009 3:47 AM

"...She is white and he is black." What a surprise!

Posted by: nickgorton.pip.verisignlabs.com | October 16, 2009 3:48 AM

Roy Zimmerman has the best description of Loving v. Virgina.

Kind of like PG-13 Schoolhouse Rock.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQWrasoNS24

Posted by: Walton, Marquis of Carabas | October 16, 2009 4:16 AM

#67 and #72: You are racist scum. Fuck off.

Posted by: El Guerrero del Interfaz | October 16, 2009 4:34 AM

Bigotry is everywhere and even trascend race and religion.

My first love was Flemish and I was Walloon and we often suffered the scorn and hate of the facist "flamingants" (Flemish ultra nationists) of the VU (now VB) when I visited her in Antwerpen. And it was not even a matter of skin color but of accent. And in a tiny scrappy bit of a country like Belgium...

Now, 40 years later, the VU is the VB, but their head kook, the clownish Flupke (who despite his hate of everything francophone, spend his vacations in the Côte d'Azur...) is even much more radical than the kooks of 40 years ago.

Hopefully now I'm Spanish :-)

Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | October 16, 2009 4:45 AM

Uncle Remus at #72

I'll echo Walton at #73 ( I never thought I'd say that) and say FUCK OFF. The racial status of my husband, Indigenous Australian or otherwise, is none of your fucking business.

And your comment regarding dick size are just plain stomach turning. You turd.

Posted by: Sigmund | October 16, 2009 5:11 AM

The reason given for refusing the marriage license - that the children of this couple might face discrimination - could equally be applied to many other groups. I suspect being a member of a minority grouping in Louisiana, such as Jews or Sikhs, is apt to get you treated in a less than equal fashion.
Should they also be prevented from bringing children up in that community?
Why not go the whole way and make it that only white people can have children (and only god fearing christian whites at that).
What this justice of the peace did is indefensible.
On a related note I remember a few months back Razib from Gene Expression showed the results of a poll that asked the question of various sections of the US community whether mixed race marriage should be illegal (something far beyond what this justice of the peace was doing). The results were rather shocking.
http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2009/04/whites_favor_law_against_inter.php
In the SE region that contains Louisiana the MAJORITY of people favored a law that banned racial intermarriage.

Posted by: Prof. Henry Armitage | October 16, 2009 5:32 AM

He's not racist, he just believes people should be treated differently depending on their 'race'. Riiiiiiight.

So, he doesn't think a 'white' person should be allowed to marry a 'black' person, that's clear. What about if one of the individuals had 'mixed race' parents? Who should they be allowed to marry? Only 'white' people? Only 'black' people? Only other 'mixed race' people? No-one? What if one of the individuals had 'mixed race' grand-parents? Or 'mixed race' great-grand-parents? Does the one drop rule still apply in Tangipahoa Parish?

Posted by: Feynmaniac | October 16, 2009 5:43 AM

Like most Latinos I'm racially mixed*. I've had people think I'm Middle Eastern, Indian, Native American, Jewish, Black, Italian, Asian, Mexican, and White. I was hanging with some Native girls and they called me "the white guy". Two actual white guys saw me with them and thought I was Native. When I'm introduced to a new person they almost always want to know my ethnicity. Sometimes they are tactful about it and try to lead me to reveal it. Other times they just blurt out 'what are you?'.

Most people are cool, but I have run into some racist assholes. This "justice of the peace" (if ever a title was undeserved) is an idiot. If he wants to make things easier for mixed children (which I really don't buy are his true intentions) he'd work to eliminate the separations between the different communities that create hardships for mixed people. I'd like to see the day where being of mixed race is so common it attracts neither scorn nor curiosity. It's really sad that in this day and age this even needs to be said.
_ _ _ _
*European, Native American and Chinese if you must know.

Posted by: Richard Eis | October 16, 2009 5:50 AM

-Is the BM/WF attraction strictly phallic?

Penis envy alert....someone has a small dick and wants everyone to know.
Don't worry uncle, the BIG white hat with the eye-holes will make up for it.

Posted by: shonny | October 16, 2009 5:56 AM

JP or ostrich?
Makes one wonder if this fool has been out of his house, watched TV (other than FockedNews), or realised that clocks still work, because the world didn't stop 60 years or so ago, even in Louisiana, although this JP seems to wish that was the case.

Posted by: Rob W | October 16, 2009 6:06 AM

Aw... have a little sympathy. I mean, the poor man has piles; that's probably why he's kinda cranky and possibly not thinking straight.

Posted by: JBlilie | October 16, 2009 6:49 AM

"Beth Humphrey, 30, and 32-year-old Terence McKay, both of Hammond, say they will consult the U.S. Justice Department about filing a discrimination complaint."

I hope to holy hoppin Hank that they do file a suit. Get the ACLU to provide the lawyering and get to it. This is completely outrageous. No judge has the right to deny two consenting adults from marrying (and I include XX and YY coouples in that.)

This nit wit thinks he can play Hank (god) over these people's lives! Amazing! It violates the constitution: 5th and 14th amendments.

He should be impeached (if appointed) or voted out if elected.

The nerve!

Posted by: Jud | October 16, 2009 6:55 AM

Segregated proms are NOT a thing of the past. They still exist.

Heck, that's nothing. Bob Jones University in South Carolina banned interracial dating and was honored for it by primary campaign appearances from the two most recent GOP presidential nominees, GWB and John McCain. (McCain's honorable refusal to appear in 2000 helped lose him the state primary, so he manfully put all principles aside and showed up smiling in 2008.)

Oh, and about that "for the children" excuse - so Teh Gays would be OK on that score, right?

Posted by: JBlilie | October 16, 2009 7:08 AM

Feynmaniac @83:

"Like most Latinos I'm racially mixed*. I've had people think I'm Middle Eastern, Indian, Native American, Jewish, Black, Italian, Asian, Mexican, and White. I was hanging with some Native girls and they called me "the white guy". Two actual white guys saw me with them and thought I was Native."

This leads me to believe you look very cool and wonderful. I've always found "mixed" race people very attractive. My wife is "mixed" European and Native American: awesome.

Think of it this way: What they think you "are" tells you a whole lot about them, right off the bat. Obviously it says nothing about you (except that you look much more interesting than "the average bear." (I may be dating myself and losing some people with that allusion.))

On "the Res" where my wife grew up, "mixed" race is the norm and no one even notices. (Very few "pure-bloods" around anymore.) However, blacks are definitely not accepted around there ... It's interesting to be in the minority! When we visit, I'm the only one in the extended family, including our kids, who can't get into the museums and such for free as a Tribal member!! It gives a privileged white-boy like me a small inkling of what discrimination/being the minority feels like.

Better is to go to Africa and South Asia, especially South Asia, where you fall off the bottom of ttheir caste system. No more, "yes sahib," over there anymore! Most people there are nice; but you know where you stand in the system. In Africa, people have unfailingly polite to me (and everyone), but you really know you are the minority! A useful exercise.

Posted by: JBlilie | October 16, 2009 7:30 AM

Kamaka @34:

"Hardly. White guy, black girlfriend, Milwaukee, 1980. We had a very limited range of movement. 3/4s of the city was off limits to us, at risk of our lives."

Milwaukee is one fo the most racist places I've ever been. BAD racial tensions there, no shit.

Posted by: Pat | October 16, 2009 7:54 AM

While I may not agree with him, I believe he has every right to his own convictions and I applaud him for standing up for them. If everyone acted and thought the same, how boring this world would be.

Of course, I would never use his services because it's *my* right to disagree with and discriminate against him. And I wouldn't use his bathroom either.

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | October 16, 2009 7:58 AM

While I may not agree with him, I believe he has every right to his own convictions and I applaud him for standing up for them. If everyone acted and thought the same, how boring this world would be.

Wait

WHAT?

He's a fucking judge.

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | October 16, 2009 8:02 AM

Shorter Pat,

"I like having racists around and have no trouble with them violating other people's civil rights."

Posted by: JBlilie | October 16, 2009 8:10 AM

Pat @99:

he has every right to his own convictions

I have to hope you were using sarcasm.

Actually, he has sworn an oath to apply the law. The law of the US prohibits racial discrimination (like this action of his.) Therefore, he has violated his oath of office and and is due punishment, not admiration. The fact that he is proud of having violated his oath of office to the extent that he speaks openly about it in public, speaks volumes about his lack of knowledge of US law. He is either incompetent or malicious, or both. I'm going with BOTH.

He does have a right to his racist convictions. However, he may not use them in his job as a judge.

Posted by: NixManes | October 16, 2009 8:14 AM

I miss the south... ~tear~

The people are just so...so...caring. Looking out for the welfare of your fellow man is just so touching. It doesn't happen like that anywhere else, you know? ~quivering lip~

The way they look so far back to try and stop pain before it even starts--that's just something we all need to do! ~whimper~

I'd write more, but I have to go now. All of my black friends are here to use the bathroom and they've run out of toilet paper. ~wiping eyes~

Posted by: AlexS | October 16, 2009 8:22 AM

PHA @81: Ooooh no, you've got it all wrong. He doesn't treat people differently based on their skin color. He simply upholds marriage as a contract between two people of the same race. It's just like gay marriage. It doesn't discriminate against gays, because, like anyone else, they are free to marry anyone of the opposite sex. Don't you get it?

Posted by: Abdul Alhazred | October 16, 2009 8:36 AM

Of course this will not stand, and they will get their marriage license.

I also predict an early retirement for the judge.

We'll see.

Posted by: 'Tis Himself, Quel Dommage | October 16, 2009 8:45 AM

Compost comes in piles. Manure comes in piles. Dead bodies can come in piles. Friends do not come in piles...except in Louisiana.

Posted by: Doug Little | October 16, 2009 8:48 AM

Ahhh, the old disclaimer gambit,

I'm not a but, ....

If you have to use it you are it.

Posted by: Doug Little | October 16, 2009 8:52 AM

Sorry Html fail, lets try that again

Ahhh, the old disclaimer gambit,

I'm not a < insert item > but, ....

If you have to use it you are it.

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | October 16, 2009 9:02 AM

You mean one of the fastest growing re-categorizations. Previously "bi racials" were "black".

In parts of the country, and for certain parental combinations, yes. Not every biracial person has a black parent.

However, it's not just a "recategorization" but also a growing identity category. More and more people are self-identifying as biracial. Kerri Ann Rocquemore has done a lot of work in this area (I think she's at UIC; she was at Boston College for a while when I was there.)

Posted by: Abdul Alhazred | October 16, 2009 9:09 AM

Just because it's a "self" identification, doesn't mean it not a recategorization. That is to say it's a fashion not a government mandate.

If you're going by actual ancestry, most "blacks" in the USA are "bi-racial" or "tri-racial".

In the bad old days, it was the one drop rule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

Posted by: Martin R | October 16, 2009 9:13 AM

I'd love to know if he would let a gay person use his bathroom, just so we could calibrate his bigotry a little more precisely.

Use it for what purpose?

Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | October 16, 2009 9:22 AM

My mom nearly got arrested in Alabama for letting a heavily pregnant black woman use the whites only bathroom, the only bathroom for blocks. The sheriff came by and told Mom he ought to make her clean the bathroom. She told him he could clean it with his tongue. My dad got her out of there. Barely.

When was this?

Posted by: MPM | October 16, 2009 9:28 AM

By "piles and piles of black friends", he meant
http://tinyurl.com/ykambqe

Posted by: Riaan Moll | October 16, 2009 9:46 AM

I'd like to use his bathroom. I'll show him how white mixes with brown.

Posted by: Merkin Muffley | October 16, 2009 10:05 AM

Some people lack that inner voice that says "Not only should you not say this out loud you shouldn't even be thinking it, dipsh**t".

Posted by: Gregory Greenwood | October 16, 2009 10:31 AM

I read further on in this judge's little racist tirade and I found the following statement;

"Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"There is a problem with both groups accepting a child from such a marriage," Bardwell said. "I think those children suffer and I won't help put them through it."

So, he is using the existence of race discrimination in society to justify . . . more racism? In order to prevent said discrimination. Because obviously if your parents aren't married you cannot be born (at this juncture one wonders what planet the racist sod is on) and if you aren't alive you cannot be discriminated against. By this logic, the Nazi 'final solution' was an anti-discrimination measure. It beggars belief that this moron is a judge of all things.

When are cretins like this going to realise that you do not get a pass on racism simply by saying;

'I'm tryin' to protect teh childrun! Won't sumbody think of teh childrun?'

This is the kind of nauseating racism psuedo-apologetic you expect to hear from the BNP. I had hoped that in this day and age such cromagnon attitudes had at the very least been purged from the judiciary. I guess I was expecting too much.

Posted by: Alyson Miers | October 16, 2009 10:37 AM

Piles? Are we talking about people or wet rags, here?

When I'm introduced to a new person they almost always want to know my ethnicity. Sometimes they are tactful about it and try to lead me to reveal it. Other times they just blurt out 'what are you?'.

That sounds really, really freaking annoying. What ever happened to "pleased to meet you"? Do they ever try asking your name first?

Posted by: nastasie | October 16, 2009 11:09 AM

Re: Nina Simone

Yeah, she wasn't a voice virtuosa, but one of the best interpreters ever. And such energy, strength, creativity, personality, intelligence (and a good pianist to boot). Gives me goose bumps.

Wrt to songs that Nina Simone "owns", I don't think See Line Woman should be touched either. But that's the thing about covers, sometimes people surprise us with great ones (but the majority of times, I feel that is not the case). What does happen more often is someone taking a mediocre or downright awful song and creating a small masterpiece, or at least an unforgettable moment.
Which brings me back to Nina Simone. Watch her turn the mind-boggingly horrible "Feelings" into a precious moment (and not devoid of hilarity).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH5ZE3N8cxU

It's really too bad the audience was not with her. I keep thinking they either were lacking in sense of humour or didn't think the song was all that bad to begin with.

Posted by: Rorschach | October 16, 2009 11:18 AM

I'm still amazed this "justice of the peace" could get away with this, and I sincerely hope he loses his job and gets his ass sued off over it.

Posted by: Knockgoats | October 16, 2009 12:00 PM

The shit from "uncle remus" reminded me of this brilliant Private Eye cover from 1968; some of you may remember my recent argument with Pilty about whether Enoch Powell (a.k.a. Eunuch Bowell) was a racist.

Posted by: Rorschach | October 16, 2009 12:11 PM

But yeah, recessive alleles for the win.

FTW !!

Posted by: Brownian, Most Vicious & Petty of Pharyngulites | October 16, 2009 12:16 PM

Here in Toronto, mixed couples are, quite simply, no big deal.

Having been in more than a couple of mixed-race relationships, I'm proud to say that even in the most redneck of Canadian provinces it's not that big a deal (or at least it isn't in the only liberal city in the most redneck of Canadian provices.

However, I could never marry a conservative. Sure, I'll let them use my bathroom (after I lock away the good prescription drugs, of course), but I just don't believe in mixing the intelligences that way.

Kamaka: better to have loved a small woman than never to have loved a tall.

A little presumptuous, bad Jim, though I like the pun. Kamaka never said he was the tall one.

A friend of mine who quite accurately describes his height as "five foot fuck-all" married his love, who happens to be 6'4".

They definitely turn more heads than if they were a mixed couple.

Posted by: Pygmy Loris | October 16, 2009 1:02 PM

People in my generation, even in very well segregated schools usually know at least one minority member or mixed race person personally and so are much less likely to view them as subhuman.

This is an interesting supposition, but racism has been very common in the South for a long time. It's not because whites there didn't know blacks. Simply know someone from a minority group doesn't inoculate a person against prejudice. Newsweek ran a good article (with a ridiculous cover) on some new research showing that in the absence of explicit talk about race and equality, children form their own ideas. Children in schools with a racially mixed student body were more likely to form ideas about races and those ideas weren't necessarily good ones.

Though the headline got a lot of flack, the point of the article was that talking to children about race and equality and stating clearly that skin tone and other physical differences don't make people better or worse is the best method of inoculating children against racism. Merely being exposed to people from other groups isn't enough.

Posted by: Cerberus, unnatural product of en-OMnomnom-ification | October 16, 2009 1:13 PM

147-

Well there is a bit of a difference between knowing of a black person and knowing a black person, and from what I know of some "mixed schools" is that there sometimes is strong pressure by parents to segregate by class and certainly by social circle with "punishment" for crossing over.

My statement was more on the historical trend, which is indeed the case. Most people usually have at least a human face to a black person, this doesn't make them immune to racism, carefully instilled by their parents, but it makes the demonization just a little bit harder than the generation before.

Interesting study, I wonder if they plan to follow it up with an examination on whether or not parents stepped up on enforcing segregation and racism when their kids go to a more integrated school or examining whether the most egregious ideas were coming from the kids who went home to the more integrated streets or the less integrated streets.

Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | October 16, 2009 2:10 PM

I don't see what the judge is worried about. I've seen enough cartoons to know how this works: the girls are the same race as the mother, and the boys are the same race as the father.

Posted by: wasd | October 16, 2009 3:02 PM

Obvious question first: who volunteers to grab a hair or toothbrush from this judge in order to do one of those $79 ethnic background DNA tests? I don't believe these labs ask many questions and the odds of interesting results should be better than you might think.

@127 “I have piles and piles of black friends”
You beat me to it.

"Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society [ie >50%] does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does [>50% of] white society, he said.

HT: C0nc0rdance

Posted by: SC OM | October 16, 2009 3:39 PM

Brownian, OM, RBLD:

Sure, I'll let them use my bathroom (after I lock away the good prescription drugs, of course), but I just don't believe in mixing the intelligences that way

:D!

Posted by: homosoicus | October 16, 2009 4:31 PM

I think he meant he has hemorrhoids (aka piles) and lots of black friends too. That's probably why he's so grouchy.

Posted by: The Other Ian | October 16, 2009 4:41 PM

I guess it would have been 8 years ago when I was back in high school, we had a group of kids drive around the parking lot in a truck waving around a huge Confederate flag... then said, "It a demonstration of southern pride. It wasn't racist..."

Plausible. The fact is that the Confederate flag is a symbol of the South as well as being a symbol used by several racist groups. I had a friend in high school in Ohio who got in trouble for wearing a jacket with the Confederate flag to school and was required to remove it. While I'm sure that several people took offense at it, he was not racist at all. He just liked the flag.

Posted by: Kamaka | October 16, 2009 5:34 PM

Wouldn't it be a sad state of affairs if Eurydice could never reappear due to contamination of our gene pools?

Contamination of our gene pools, huh? You say that like it's a bad thing.

Keep the lines pure and go reproduce with yourself, bigot.

Posted by: MAJeff, OM | October 16, 2009 6:05 PM

While I respect your right to freedom of speach, I would say that, given the bloody history of this vile and pernicious idea, you can expect little but condemnation in the strongest terms if you use this phrase even in jest on Pharyngula.

Oh, but haven't we learned from previous threads that violence is acceptable so long as Whitey is using it?

Posted by: Jadehawk, OM | October 16, 2009 6:12 PM

After saying hello, staring at me for a few minutes, they'll ask "what are you"?
My biggest pet peeve is the guessing game: they'll blurt random nationalities until I say yes to something. Imagine if I did that to everyone all the time. It'd be freakin' hilarious.

Posted by: R. Schauer | October 16, 2009 9:26 PM

When can we all be called homo sapien and leave it at that? In fact, we should outlaw anything other than that moniker.

This judge is exceedingly ignorant and I'll bet anything he cross-dresses in a robe yet doesn't realize the implication.

Posted by: Feynmaniac | October 17, 2009 3:12 AM

Yeah, I have to admit I read Feynmaniac's description and thought "Who are these people who immediately ask about ethnicity? Because the only thing I'd probably be capable of thinking is 'hot'." Not to be, um, objectifying or anything.

Feel free to objectify me!

I've lived in fairly rural parts of Canada where minorities aren't common, let alone mixed people.

For me though, what people think I am depends on the time of year and how much facial hair I have.

LOL! I've had more or less the same experience. During Canadian winters I get Italian, Spaniard, or Mediterranean. Summer comes along, I go to the beach and Mexican and Middle Eastern become more common.

I got called every name in the book by people of every race, but what's funny is that I was never called a slur for a native american which is actually some blood that I do have.

Yeah, it's a weird feeling to get called get a slur for a ethnic group you don't even belong to. Who would have thunk that racists were bad with research skills?

@135: I'm Asian and I get that question a lot. I guess I don't look like a 'typical' Asian, whatever the fuck that's supposed to be.

In high school whenever they needed to take pictures for my overwhelming white high school the camera seemed to always point my way. I felt like a black guy at a Republican convention. One time I was just doing my work in class, a photographer just walked in, took my picture and then asked if I was a foreign exchange students. I answered no. Weeks later I see the picture in the school newspaper misidentifying me by some Chinese name and as being "a foreign exchange student".

That sounds really, really freaking annoying. What ever happened to "pleased to meet you"?

Yeah it was, but by now I've just gotten used to it. I even turned it into a game. Some people try to be tactful and ask indirect questions to find out (like "do you travel much?" or "where is home for you?" or bring up Spanish into the conversation for no apparent reason). I deliberate avoid revealing my ethnicity to them and see direct they are willing to get.

Posted by: Gregory Greenwood | October 17, 2009 9:50 AM

Feynmaniac @ 169;

"Some people try to be tactful and ask indirect questions to find out (like "do you travel much?" or "where is home for you?" or bring up Spanish into the conversation for no apparent reason)."

It's hard to believe people can be this crass, but I have seen it first hand myself. I like to start a conversation with someone I do not know with something like 'Hello, my name is Greg'. Oddly, I do not feel the need to immediately pidgeon hole everyone I meet into a neat little ethnic box.

On the subject of dual or multiple heritage persons (I do not favour the term 'mixed race' myself), I was always taught that there is no such thing as a 'pure' race anyway. We are all admixtures of countless other ethnic groups due to migrations, invasions and other mass population movements that have periodically occurred throughout history. Why we can't all just be satisfied with our common humanity I will never know. One has to be a special kind of stupid to hate another person for something as insignificant as racial or ethnic origin.

Posted by: DeadCat | October 17, 2009 10:35 AM

@Feynmaniac

I feel your pain. I myself am mixed race with a black (Jamaican) father, and white (English) mother. My heritage is pretty obvious by my appearance except for the fact that i apparently have paler skin than people seem to expect for someone with one black and one white parent. This leads to the endlessly annoying question that is asked by most people i meet, (including my close friends);

"So just precisely how black are you?"

At which point i am expected to give a detailed and accurate account of my fathers ancestery indicating where possible any breeding with whites may have occured that may explain his and therefore my pale skin tone.

Following this i am invariably reffered to as 'black' by these people anyway.

On the subject of the "I'm not X but...", experience has taught me, whenever this phrase is heard, to brace myself for some mind boggling ignorance and bigotry. Here is an example of some of the gems i am regularly treated to;

"Im not racist but she was a gobby black bitch."

"I'm not racist but I swear all the weirdos are smelly paki's."

"I'm not racist but she was a proper nigger-bitch."

"I'm not racist but i wouldn't go near a black man with a 10-foot barge pole, you know, they all beat their women."

These are all things that have recently been said to me at work by 2 of my co-workers. Who then use their friendship with me as evidence that they cannot possibly be racist.

Posted by: Carlie of the lacy, gently wafting adjectives | October 17, 2009 11:06 AM

Between the "what are you"s and the "how black are you"s and all, I'm completely flabbergasted that there are so many people in the world who act that clueless and rude.*

*and this has been my white privilege(TM) moment of the day.

Posted by: strange gods before me ॐ homintern radfem | October 17, 2009 11:34 AM

On the subject of dual or multiple heritage persons (I do not favour the term 'mixed race' myself), I was always taught that there is no such thing as a 'pure' race anyway. We are all admixtures of countless other ethnic groups due to migrations, invasions and other mass population movements that have periodically occurred throughout history. Why we can't all just be satisfied with our common humanity I will never know.

There's a reason I say "I'm white" and not just "I'm human".

My skin color confers upon me certain advantages in society. I am treated with a default of respect, which people of color are not equally afforded. I have advantages getting jobs over people of color with the same qualifications. I can drive through any neighborhood I please, and the police do not assume that I am a criminal. The list is long.

To fail to remind myself that I have these advantages would be to acquiesce toward treating my experiences as normal rather than privileged.

So I say I'm white, and not just human, because people don't treat me as just human. They treat me as a white human. They treat me differently because of my skin color, and it is my responsibility to acknowledge this difference.

There's an interesting story behind this.

Posted by: Imr90 | October 28, 2009 2:42 PM

While I read this post there is a banner ad at the top for the Zale's jewelry "Black and White Collection," which consists of jewelry with black and white parts on the same piece. Is this legal in Louisiana?