Here is another email that I just received...
...I did not write it but I am posting it in an effort to be fair and to attempt to open the lines of communication. If we can do that in an atmosphere of open-mindedness, perhaps we can do some good.
Response to "the litigator"
No one is saying that racism is dead. It will not die as long as you wallow in it. Most litigators have read the Supreme Court decisions that tell us, "Not all discrimination is invidious". What this means is that many people take notice of such distinctions as race and gender, but this taking notice is not necessarily a hateful thing. If I am used to seeing busboys wearing white jackets and I see a man in restaurant wearing a wite jacket, I may initially think that he is a busboy. It may turn out that he is an ambassador from a Hindu nation where white jackets are normal evening attire for gentlemen. Am I a racist for perceiving this man to be a busboy? I think not. If I refuse to give the man his rightful respect after learning of his actual status, then I would be a racist. So someone mistakes a young woman for a clerk when she is actually a attorney. This is not a problem for an adult unless that person persists in disrespecting the attorney because of her appearance.
No, racism is not dead. You won't let it die. When you say that you do not know if the guard who stopped McKinney was a racist because you could not read his mind, you are finding him guilty until proven innocent. I don't know what law school you attended, but you know that the opposite is the only intelligent view.
The fact that the guard stopped her as he was trained to do is proof only that he did his job. You will need some facts to be placed in evidence before you can raise the specter of racism in his performance. The fact that you allow for it even where there are no such facts belies your legal training and belies your claims regarding racism. As Pogo would say, you have found the racist and we all know who it is. Your comments even allowing for racism where there is no evidence (let me say the again - NO EVIDENCE _) place the label racist squarely where it belongs.
...I did not write it but I am posting it in an effort to be fair and to attempt to open the lines of communication. If we can do that in an atmosphere of open-mindedness, perhaps we can do some good.
Response to "the litigator"
No one is saying that racism is dead. It will not die as long as you wallow in it. Most litigators have read the Supreme Court decisions that tell us, "Not all discrimination is invidious". What this means is that many people take notice of such distinctions as race and gender, but this taking notice is not necessarily a hateful thing. If I am used to seeing busboys wearing white jackets and I see a man in restaurant wearing a wite jacket, I may initially think that he is a busboy. It may turn out that he is an ambassador from a Hindu nation where white jackets are normal evening attire for gentlemen. Am I a racist for perceiving this man to be a busboy? I think not. If I refuse to give the man his rightful respect after learning of his actual status, then I would be a racist. So someone mistakes a young woman for a clerk when she is actually a attorney. This is not a problem for an adult unless that person persists in disrespecting the attorney because of her appearance.
No, racism is not dead. You won't let it die. When you say that you do not know if the guard who stopped McKinney was a racist because you could not read his mind, you are finding him guilty until proven innocent. I don't know what law school you attended, but you know that the opposite is the only intelligent view.
The fact that the guard stopped her as he was trained to do is proof only that he did his job. You will need some facts to be placed in evidence before you can raise the specter of racism in his performance. The fact that you allow for it even where there are no such facts belies your legal training and belies your claims regarding racism. As Pogo would say, you have found the racist and we all know who it is. Your comments even allowing for racism where there is no evidence (let me say the again - NO EVIDENCE _) place the label racist squarely where it belongs.
posted by Meg Kelso | 8:06 AM
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