When I got out of college and came back east, the first job I got in the newspaper business was at The Record in Coatesville.
That paper, like all too many in my profession, no longer exists. A lot of the issues that swirled around the city back then are still around today, however. That's unfortunate as well.
I am still trying to come to grips with what I have read concerning a series of text messages that have caused a conflagration in the town where I once worked.
I could tell you I'm surprised, but I'd be lying.
People are always talking about how far this nation has come in terms of race relations. I'm not so sure.
What is stunning in the Coatesville is not that two adults would exchange a series of texts dripping with racial venom, in which they joked about referring to students, staff and parents with the N-word.
If you doubt that kind of blatant racism still is all too commonplace, I invite you to read the comments readers often attach to stories on DelcoTimes.com, in particular any story coming out of Chester. The truth is we can't monitor the comments, and take down some of the filth, fast enough.
What is truly stunning in Coatesville is who was making these comments.
The man casually joking about substituting the N-word for surnames was the superintendent of schools. His partner in hate was the district's athletic director.
I'm just at a loss.
What were they thinking? For people in charge of schools - of molding and shaping our children - to hold these kinds of thoughts is ugly enough. To casually share them on district-owned cell phones strains credulity.
Make no mistake, this was not a Riley Cooper-style outburst in which the worst racial invective was blurted out in a moment of rage. This was a long series of texts that provide a look into these two school leaders' souls. Funny? Hardly. A joke, only if you believe this kind of racial hate speech is acceptable.
And that's the point. They obviously were comfortable sharing this information in a public setting, on district cell phones. I have to assume they never believed their exchanges would be made public. In the process, they held a mirror up to society and reflected an ugly truth: Racism continues to be all around us, lingering in private, shocking only when it is made public, and comes from a most unexpected source.
Last night the Coatesville School Board made matters worse. In attempting to avoid a long legal battle, they instead voted to accept the resignations of their superintendent and athletic director. You can read the entire saga from the emotional, four-hour meeting here.
Richard Como and Jim Donato should have been fired. If only to send a message that this kind of hate, regardless of where it comes from, will not be tolerated.
The truth is too many people continue to think that way.
They may not be superintendents, but they're smart enough not to do it in public.
How far have we come in race relations? A long way, no doubt.
And with an equally long way to go.
As anyone in Coatesville could tell you today.
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