He only did it for the kids.
The Story.
I'm not going to go into the story's details. The facts are self-evident and either your appalled at the ignorance this fine example of a Louisiana public official possesses, or you don't see what the big deal is. Psst! If you fall into the latter category, your a piece of shit. Do us a favor and don't breed.
No, the reason I'm writing is because I saw the paper, then went to the above link to see what the comments were saying. It was just as bad as I thought it would be. The comments ranged from out of state people laughing at the backwardness our state seems to love to present to the outside world, to condemnation from decent people, all the way to the complete insanity from the lunatic fringe that think he's right. Problem is that the fringe isn't quite as fringe around here as it should be.
I realized that in the past few years, the only other national coverage we've gotten has been the Hosanna child rape cult. The feelings of pride one experiences from this realization are unexplainable. Mainly because there aren't any.
It does reminds us of two things though.
1. The Post-Racial America Obama was supposed to usher in? Not happening. What is and has been happening is that racism has just enough of a social stigma that the racist will deny being one, while still of course being one. No one, least of all Ballard, believes he's doing it for the kids. He's doing it because it's how he would have done it in his alternate reality where George Wallace became President. The only difference is that he hides his intentions and is stupid enough to think no one will know what he's doing. I suppose it is a step up from lynching. I can't believe I can write that and actually mean it.
2. There's hope. Each generation is a little more integrated, a little more aware of the problem, and a little less willing to stay quiet about race in general and racism in particular. At the same time, the generation that grew up seeing and rooting against the Civil Rights movement is dying off. While it will not supply the ultimate solution, time may do more to advance race relations than anything else.
One mistake we cannot afford to make is to say that this is just one more black eye for a state that has loads, shrugging it off in the process. I hope we don't. We can be better than this, we are better than this. All we need is the courage to tell Bardwell and his ilk that their way is not acceptable anymore. We can take advantage of this stupidity to prove, to ourselves more than anyone else, that we are willing and able to no longer allow an environment where people like Bardwell feel comfortable and, more importantly, justified in spewing their bile. I know it can be done. I just hope enough of us are willing to try.
Oh and FYI, there's a very good chance that the picture leading this essay is not Bardwell. A good chance as in it's definitely not him. Still, I think as a representation of Bardwell's ignorance as well as a look what the rest of the world thinks we all look like thanks to assholes like him, it does it's job.
