In a "Black Spin" posting for Black Voices, Boyce Watkins, Ph.D., blasted the New Bedford Standard-Times for inadvertently publishing a racist ad placed by a law firm. The advertisement announced property for sale to "whites only" — an alleged slight on the part of the law firm, Harmon Law, as well as, the newspaper. A complaint has been filed with Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination and both Harmon Law and the publisher of the New Bedford Standard-Times have since issued an apology. Watkins writes:
The ad also reminds us that although our nation has changed dramatically since the days of slavery and Jim Crow, there are quite a few remnants of discrimination in our society. In fact, I would argue that language such as this in a property deed is among the least dangerous forms of residual racism in our society.
More damaging reminders of racial inequality, which are created by past racism, are asymmetries in America's systemic power structures, where African Americans find themselves on the bottom rung of opportunity and access.
SOURCE: Black Voices