In a story today about renewing the contract for operation of the DATA bus system, The Herald-Sun referred to Tom Hartley, former general manager of Durham’s DATA bus system, and his suit for wrongful dismissal:

Hartley’s suit contends that MV Transportation fired him to appease City Council members who wanted a black in the general manager’s post…

And, further:

Hartley, who is white, further alleged that the company refused to authorize medical testing to determine whether a bus driver subsequently involved in an injury that cost a DATA patron his leg was cognitively impaired.

Later in the story, Mayor Bill Bell, Councilwoman Cora Cole-McFadden and Councilman Howard Clement are mentioned. But why aren’t they identified by race? Why doesn’t the story say, “Mayor Bill Bell, Councilwoman Cora Cole-McFadden and Councilman Howard Clement, all of whom are black….l”? They are, in fact, members of the City Council, the very one that Hartley claims had to be appeased by having a black general manager. Why is Hartley’s race germane but the race of the black City Council members not?