the race card
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photo by steed media service
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Irony has an unusually bizarre way of showing its head.
While in the Orlando area this past weekend, I picked up an
edition of the Orlando Sentinel – a move that lead many to
discern that I was not from around those parts. Although I
was really interested in getting a recap of the 2007 NBA
draft, two stories on the front page adjacent to each other
caught my eye.
The first regarded a decision by Disney to reverse lifetime
bans on four 17-year old
African American male youth
(who happened to be Florida
State University Football
prospects, for loitering on the
theme park’s grounds)). The
four were Avis Commack,
Nigel Carr and Nickolas
Moody and Vincent Williams.
The decision was reversed
after Philadelphia-based civil
rights attorney Adrian J.
Moody (father of Nickolas)
looked into the situation to see
if Disney was using racial profiling
given that 45 of the 46
citations issued for loitering
were given to African
American and Latino youth.
The other story regarded
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling
to limit the use of students’
race in efforts to build diversity
in schools. Justice John
Roberts announced the 5-4
decision. It is just one decision
in a line of many that seems to
suggest that the court has
moved to the other side –
almost Reaganesque. From Gonzales v. Planned
Parenthood of America to Meredith v. Jefferson County.
It just seems so ironic, the juxtaposition of knowing that
one can no longer use race for the purpose of educational
diversity, but that it’s OK to pick people out and use it to ban
or even jail them. Thumbs up to the new court for playing
the race card. -torrance stephens
