You would think in this day and age, things like this would stop happening. It's sad, in a way. I think back when I was a kid, things like this were more 'noticeable' than it is now. My daughter was interracial--HIspanic/Mexican and me, red-headed white girl--and I will admit it was tough for her sometimes, looking Hispanic but not speaking any Spanish, to 'fit in' with any 'group'. Does she date a white boy because her mama is white and her father's not in the picture? Does she date a Hispanic boy because that's what she 'looks' like? She settled on liking black boys. Problem solved? LOL

Anyway, do I think they are bad for children? No. I think multi-cultural and multi-racial can be a positive thing, when a child is taught about heritage and culture and history. I think that when kids are going to be cruel, they are going to be cruel, and it won't matter--if someone wants to pick fun, they will, and race might be ONE thing they pick fun about. BUT if the child isn't interracial, it'll just be something else.

In the article, the JP said that he's seen interracial marriages don't last long -- today, seems most marriages don't last long. It's not for him to say.

Lastly -- did the man ever stop to think that people don't have to be married to have a baby?

I'm really surprised a man like this is in a powerful position and can make that choice. I hope the couple doesn't take this as a bad 'omen' and will find another JP to officiate their marriage.

Interracial marriages are good. It is the only way to put an end to racism in the long run.

Its not the relationship that could damage the children but the community that the family lives in.

If they live in a multi cultural, diverse and future forward community then it is a non issue.

On the other hand, if they live in a backwards, prejudiced, and ignorant community then of course there will be challenges.

Yet, the advantages of being biracial and bicultural outweigh the disadvantages.
Twice the ability to view different viewpoints.
Twice the skill to understand another person.
Twice the beauty of two cultures.

Plus, bi racial isn't really new. People have been mixing for thousands of years. Its really difficult to find a person who has "pure" DNA especially in America.

Interracial marriages are not bad for the resulting children. On the contrary, the children have the advantage of growing up in an environment rich with multi-cultural traditions and heritage. Many interracial children speak multiple languages and often have family from different continents. The Justice of the Peace who refused to issue a marriage license based on different races of the couple appears simply ignorant. Is there research that supports his personal opinion that interracial marriages on average do not last compared to those of same-race couples? If not, his refusal to marry the couple is based solely on his personal belief system, which in this case would make him somewhat of a racist. As far as children go, whether interracial or not, there are always societal barriers that may negatively affect the child while growing up or in the future. A purely African American, Latino, or Asian child may be discriminated against just as much as a mixed race child. Sure, some people may think that for example, a 100% Latino child will have his heritage and family to fall back on as a support system, since both mother and father are Latino as well. Also it may be argued that a child of a certain race may have a more solid self-concept than an interracial child, who many think often may not fit in with a particular group. However, any child, especially once he/she enters the preteen and teenage years, will experience times of difficulty every now and then in terms of figuring out who exactly he/she really is and who he/she would like to become. Most children will find themselves wondering where they fit in and by whom they are liked. But most children will also form a solid circle of friends that like them exactly for who they are and support them in their endeavors. Further, having parents of different races may actually have medical benefits for the child. Differing parental ancestry based on race will likely have led to genetic compositions that differ so vehemently from one another that the likelihood of genetic disorders is greatly minimized for mixed race children (as there are genetic illnesses that are more prevalent among certain races).

Hmm...

I don't know...

I'm 1/4 English, 1/4 Scottish, 1/4 Danish and 1/4 Norwegian, and I turned out okay... I think.

The main problem I have with race issues is that I remember having to be taught that I was supposed to have issues before they could tell me that now I had to stop it and be liberal and drop the issues.

Huh? You say?

I mean, my parents were young, dad was finishing a degree, a fourth child was on the way, and so we were living on a low budget in a cheap neighborhood where the neighbors were everything from Hindustani immigrants to Chinese to African to Europeans of at least five languages, and we all just grew up together. My parents worked very hard, so maybe they just didn't have time to tell me that I was supposed to think our differences mattered.

Of course I could see they were different. We could all see we were different. We sorted ourselves out into teams for playing games of cowboys and Indians based on those differences. I could also see that there were differences between girls and boys.

But one day dad graduated and got a good job, and we moved to a new city, and in the eighth grade the social studies teacher started ranting about how were were not supposed to be prejudiced on the basis of race... and I went "Huh?"

So.. I got special after-school tutoring, telling me about all the issues I was supposed to have with Chinese and Africans and Ukrainians and native Americans, like how I was better, and just when I thought I was getting it... just when I said, "Ohh... I see... so... it's like I'm descended from space aliens from a dark planet with no sunlight who brought superior technology to earth to build the pyramids, and that's why my eyes are blue and I have to wear sunglasses or my eyes burn, but everyone else is native to earth so their eyes don't get sunburned because they have natural sun protection, and..."

And he says, "NO! You're Wrong! You're just as human as everyone else!"

Which made me confused, because I could tell I wasn't the same. I was very pale, and I sunburned easy, so I had to take on a tan slowly or the other kids would laugh at me when I peeled.

The teacher gave me some readings, like Uncle Toms Cabin, and he explained how it was more than just fiction, how it was allegory for what had really happened long ago, and just when the scope and scale of it all started to sink in, the teach would ask me, "Now do you get it?" And I'd say, "Yeah, I'm supposed to think I'm superior, right?" And he says, "Yes, now... do you feel superior?"

I used my imagination to see what it would be like to be superior, and because I was so accustomed to being kicked around as the pencil-neck science geek, it was a thrilling idea... it gave me a rush... so I said, "YEAH! I'm Superior! This is Great!"

And then he says, "NO You're NOT! That's what I'm trying to teach you here! That you might *think* you're better, but you're just the same as everyone else!"

At that point I got too frustrated, and basically shut him out, and said whatever I had to to get through the rest of that grade, because it was just too weird.

He was trying to tell me not to do something he had to teach me to do before he could tell me not to do it, in order to feel a rush of teacher-power at having sent me back to the way I was before... I figured...

In the second place, I knew, and could see darn good and well that me and the other kids were different in lots of ways, and we used to make games out of it, and so what?!? Like he's going to tell me that he as a big fat bald social studies teacher is the same as that spinstress English teacher across the hall? That didn't stop them from drinking coffee together in the teacher's lounge, did it?!? I didn't like him.

Shortly thereafter puberty hit, and I saw there *was* a difference that really mattered... the difference between boys and girls... and I likened it unto the magnetic field, where opposites attract, because man-oh-man, they could be hard to figure out sometimes, such that if I wasn't so damn attracted I'm sure I would have just hung with my pals.

Ever noticed how you can take tribes of Eskimos and Australian Aborigines and gangs from an inner city and groups from Manhattan and Rome and Beijing and Moscow and New Delhi and Tehran and have them all mix it up and meet each other for the first time, and without knowing *anything* about each others' cultures or languages, the guys will be checking each other out to see how it looks if they can fight, and the women will be checking out each others' fashion and makeup?

An Eskimo male has more in common with an Australian Aborigine male in terms of basic attitudinal nature than they do with women from their own tribe, yet they get along with women from their own tribe just fine... don't they?

And now you're saying that some judge thinks that difference is a problem and that they should therefore not marry because they'll have kids that would level out the differences?

If he thinks that those differences matter - which I don't think they do... not where it really matters, but he does, and he's the judge - then he should be *extolling* them for getting together to make a homogeneous all-the-same-type people for the future!

Which means, he's contradicting his own paradigms with his his own judgments, which means he's contradicting himself and is obviously unqualified to be a judge, so he should be ignore and removed from office, and the couple should go to a judge with some sense and get an appeal.

Mixing up the Gene Pool is generally considered a good thing in nature. Humans are no different.

what does it matter really if the two parents love their children and each other? Race should not have to play a role in this and that JOP needs to be voted out of office.

I wonder if he doles out punishments differently according to the race of the individual, that is indeed sad. The problem lays with his way of thinking not in interracial children or marriages.