Playing the Race Card can be costly.
It also can be confusing.
Item one
A Lorain County, Ohio, jury on Friday nuked Oberlin College with an $11 million verdict, finding that the school and its dean of students, Meredith Raimondo, had libeled and harmed local business Gibson’s Bakery over a 2016 incident in which the store had had three shoplifters arrested. The trio, who pled to the charges in 2017, were black Oberlin students who quickly instigated protests — abetted by very willing school officials, acting in their formal roles — claiming Gibson’s was a racist business.The facts of the story are laid out here
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/10/oberlin-college-gibsons-bakery-libel-million-racist/?utm_term=.8e16819364c5This week the second phase of the trial, for punitive damages, could add another $20 million to the judgement against Oberlin.
It should be noted that the three students at the heart of the original altercation admitted guilt and declared there was nothing racist in the actions of the store employees.
Item 2
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday that limiting women’s access to reproductive health care is akin to being racist.
During an interview with The Des Moines Register on Tuesday, the presidential hopeful said it’s simply wrong to “deny women basic human rights” such as access to safe and affordable reproductive health care. Gillibrand likened appointing judges who oppose abortion to supporting judges who hold racist beliefs.
“I think there’s some issues that have such moral clarity that we have, as a society, decided that the other side is not acceptable,” Gillibrand said.
“Imagine saying that it’s OK to appoint a judge who’s racist or anti-Semitic or homophobic,” she continued. “Asking someone to appoint someone who takes away basic human rights of any group of people in America ... I don’t think those are political issues anymore.”
Gillibrand pointed to the fact that church and state are separated by law in the U.S. And yet, she added, the conservative right is turning religious anti-abortion rhetoric into law.
How is advocating pro-life for babies racist since the overriding goal is to let all children live, regardless of the color of their skin?
In New York City in the state where Gillabrand is a Senator 54% of black pregnancies ended in abortions. For all other ethnic groups, including Asians and Hispanics, births exceeded abortions by wide margins. Nationally black women who make up 13% of the female population accounted for 36% of abortions.
Abortion is a tough subject for a number of reasons but Gillabrand does nothing to advance solutions by claiming that those who favor pro-life laws are racist.