More on the Bathroom Controversy

Almost two weeks ago I wrote about the local story of the student who urinated into a Gatorade bottle in class because his teacher wouldn't let him leave the room. Subsequent investigations by the school district found that the student's "facts" weren't quite so, and the teacher was exonerated.

A follow-up commentary on the subject appeared this past weekend in the major Sacramento newspaper. I want you to notice how this author of that commentary transitioned from "the teacher didn't do anything wrong" to "the NAACP overreacted" to "Republicans are bad anyway":

It made national news: The student urinated in a Gatorade bottle in class, said he had to because the teacher wouldn't let him go to the bathroom. The teacher denied it.

The boy was African American; the teacher was not.

The child's family approached the local NAACP, whose leaders were quick to publicly excoriate the teacher, asking that he be fired and have his credential taken away.

And what was the outcome? Was justice secured? Were the best interests of a 14-year-old really served?

We may never know. Last week, the district backed the teacher, cleared him of wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the story petered out, the media moved on, but the damage was done.

To the teacher, the student, the media, the reputation of the NAACP and the cause of racial equality -- which is more subtle and daunting than ever.

How subtle? On Friday, a Bee reader named Ray Contreras, a state worker, pointed out the image of 10 white men in dark suits on the front page of The Bee. They were Republican presidential candidates.

"This was a great picture of presidential candidates from the 1920s, '30s or '40s," he said.

"This couldn't represent the cultural diversity for leadership of America today, could it? Did I get stuck in a time warp?"

Explain to me how the Republican Presidential candidates are in any way related to the peeing in a bottle story. Since they're not, what was the purpose of bringing them into this story in the first place--if not to attempt to score a cheap shot against Republicans?

I'm not a big fan of the major Sacramento newspaper, and the writing above is indicative of why I'm not. However, I'll give credit where credit's due, and I like the fact that the paper allows comments in its online edition. As of the time I'm typing this post, most of the comments agree with the point that the NAACP overreacted. I, however, couldn't let the political slight go by:

White Republicans On Stage

Maybe, just maybe, part of the reason there were a bunch of white Republicans on that stage is that any time a non-white Republican earns a name for him/herself, he or she is pilloried as a race-traitor: Clarence Thomas, General Powell, Condi Rice, Michelle Malkin, etc.

This author tried to write a middle-of-the-road piece, but is so biased that he can't see how far from center he truly is.