Racism Still Very Much Alive

Paul Mollica over at Daily Developments describes yesterday's Eleventh Circuit decision of Goldsmith v. Bagby Elevator Co. as "one of the most powerful civil rights opinions I've read from any U.S. Court of Appeals in quite some time."  Here's the opening paragraph of the opinion:

Forty-five years ago, "the civil rights movement swirled into Birmingham, a city whose bitter resistance to change made it a battleground."  Jack Bass, Unlikely Heroes 201 (1981).  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remarked, "If we can crack Birmingham, I am convinced we can crack the South.  Birmingham is a symbol of segregation for the entire South."  Id.  By blood, toil, and tears, segregation was, of course, cracked in Birmingham, and today the city is led by its fourth black mayor and a majority-black city council.  Against this historical backdrop, this appeal from the Northern District of Alabama offers, amid a host of technical issues, an important reminder: despite considerable racial progress, racism persists as an evil to be remedied in our Nation.

Paul describes the opinion in considerable detail.  Check it out.

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