Louisianians are again being shown in national media as backward-minded people. This time, it’s thanks to a Tangipahoa-Parish justice of the peace.It’s 2009, but Keith Bardwell refused to give an interracial couple a marriage license because he was concerned for children the couple may have. Bardwell said his experiences show most interracial marriages quickly end. He then told Hammond’s Daily Star he is not a racist.Though Bardwell’s statements do have some traction — the National Center for Health Statistics found a 41 percent chance interracial couples split within 10 years of being married, while same-race couples have only a 31 percent chance of splitting during the first 10 years — we believe his actions are bigoted and inexcusable. Bardwell’s slanted views not only paint Louisiana in a negative light, but also encroach on our civil liberties and, more importantly, deny a couple the right to be together.In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Virginia statute outlawing whites from marrying nonwhites, thus barring similar laws in 15 other states with the decision of Loving v. Virginia.The federal government changed procedures for the 2000 census to allow people to identify with more than one racial category, and about 6.8 million Americans — or about 2.5 percent of the population — claimed to be interracial, according to a 2007 Associated Press article.And a Stanford University sociologist found in 2005 more than 7 percent of the 59 million married Americans were interracial, compared to less than two percent in 1970.While the Louisiana ACLU requests Bardwell be investigated, this board believes he should be removed from his public office because of this embarrassing, racist and likely illegal decision.–Contact the Editorial Board at [email protected]