Here's news about a lawsuit in Missouri:
Shanta Wheeler claims the school district in Laddonia, Mo., acknowledged the racism from "the parents, the community, and the [school] district," and asked her to resign because "the parents, community, and Community School District had such a problem" with race.
At this point this is only one side of the story, of course, but I was struck by how the complaint implies that school district officials acknowledged racism on the part of parents, but did nothing to protect her. That sounds plausible to me. It's not so different from restaurant owners during Jim Crow claiming that it was the White customers who insisted on segregation, not them.
Any administrator of a school or owner of a business is in a tough spot when their customers or constituents want something they should not get. Sometimes it's hard to do the right thing. Even more importantly, sometimes it's not sustainable. It might well be that a school superintendent that stood up for a teacher against a racist community would not last for long.
I read and think a lot (and write a little) about race, and I think one of the biggest misconceptions about race is that colorblind markets will solve racial inequality. Sometimes--perhaps often--colorblind markets create or worsen racial inequality. Rational self-interest often supports practices that increase racial inequality. That's why looking for the intentional racist is often a distraction. As this blog gets off the ground, this is a theme I will revisit often.
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