We've got to take back the ideal of justice, we've got to take back this principle of human dignity. We've got to take it back from vengeance, from hatred, we've got to say: look, we're all in this together. We are human beings.

Louisiana first enacted miscegenation statutes in 1807. These statutes prohibited (what they termed as) "Negroes" from marrying whites or Indians.  Some of the penalties for doing so were:

Rendering the marriage "Null and Void"
Up to 5 years of hard labor for white-black marriage attempts

The statutes were repealed in 1972 (yes, I said 1972) but it seems that Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, never received that memo.

Your thoughts are always more appreciated than what we write.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/interracial-couple-denied_n_322784.html

Statistical source: Virginia Hasn't Always Been for Lovers by Phyl Newbeck