Race card creates ethical dilemma

I’m facing a bit of an ethical dilemma.
There is a story I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks. I don’t know what to do with it, so I thought I’d address it here in my column. It has to do with an accusation of racism.
Before I get into the details, let me make it clear where I come from on this. I grew up in a time and place where the population was more than 90 percent white. I was never exposed to issues of racism until I got into college. One of my best friends at Adams State College is black. I had the misfortune of seeing how certain others treated him.
When I moved to North Carolina for seven years in the ’80s and ’90s, I got exposed to a great deal of racism from both sides. It made me sick because it was so unnecessary. There were people – black and white – who filtered everything through a prism of race. There were people itching for the race card to be played just so they could fire back.
Everything we did on the newspaper had to be looked at from the perspective of how the black community would react to it. I was always uncomfortable with that. I believe in treating each person as an individual, not as a member of any race or ethnic group.
Upon my return to Colorado and my later move to Amarillo, I had to learn to deal with race from a Hispanic perspective. That was a little easier for me, as I am part Spanish and can technically claim to be part Hispanic. My Swedish, Irish and German blood overshadows that, but I am part Spanish nonetheless.
Now here I am, deep in the heart of Texas, and once again walking on eggshells around issues of race. This is where I’m torn. I don’t want to help anyone voice accusations of racism if it isn’t true. On the other hand, I don’t want to silence that voice if there is any truth to it. I know that race relations are better than they were, but that racism is still strong in this country.
This is what happened. Cedric McLaughlin came to me with a claim that he had been fired from his job as a Waller police officer because of his race. McLaughlin, 38, is black. His new boss, Chief Phil Rehak, is white. McLaughlin was the only black person on the force.
I had already arranged to do a story about Rehak as the new chief when McLaughlin contacted me. I did not want my introduction to Rehak to be one of confrontation. At the same time I don’t want to turn a blind eye to what may well be a legitimate story.
I went ahead and did the introduction story on Rehak and held off on McLaughlin’s accusations. I eventually interviewed Rehak and other city officials about McLaughlin’s situation.
From what I’ve been able to piece together, this is what happened. McLaughlin has been a police officer for eight years, the last three in Waller. He was hired by former Chief James Fulton. Fulton apparently liked the job McLaughlin did. He gave him good performance evaluations and when Fulton retired, he gave a glowing letter of recommendation to McLaughlin.
Enter Rehak. On his first couple days on the job he interviewed each of his officers, evaluated their skills and performance, and restructured the department. In doing so, he promoted two people over McLaughlin, one of whom was a part-timer that McLaughlin had trained.
“He (Rehak) told me it wasn’t my business how he made the decision. I feel the reason he did was because of my race,” McLaughlin said.
Rehak told me that race was not a factor at all.
“This has nothing to do with any disciplinary issue and nothing to do with race,” Rehak said.
He said he assessed the needs of the department and moved people into positions where he felt they and the department would be most successful. McLaughlin disagreed with the changes and expressed his opinion to Rehak.
The next day a meeting was called between McLaughlin, Rehak, Mayor Paul Wood and City Secretary Jo Ann London. At the conclusion of the meeting, McLaughlin’s employment was terminated. He had to turn in his badge.
I can’t say for certain what happened in the meeting. Most of what I’ve been told about it was confided to me off the record.
When you look at things from McLaughlin’s perspective, he appears to have a legitimate case. He was the only black person in the department. Men that he trained and who had lesser qualifications (at least according to McLaughlin) were promoted over him. His termination – by Rehak’s own admission – had nothing to do with discipline. It had more to do with McLaughlin’s attitude and dissatisfaction with the restructuring of the department.
Was McLaughlin’s de facto demotion and firing racially motivated? It looks like it on paper, but I doubt it. Attitude is everything and even in his meeting with me McLaughlin’s mood was not the best. But I couldn’t blame him. My attitude wouldn’t have been much better had I been through what he had.
On the other hand, if your attitude gets in the way of your ability to do your job adequately, then there is just cause for your termination. I know that from first-hand experience.
Rehak said he doesn’t have any ill will toward McLaughlin and wishes him well. He hates that the race card has been played. I hate it too. I certainly don’t want to contribute to racism by not reporting the story, but nor do I want to contribute to it by spreading word of it where it doesn’t exist.
So there you have it. Those are the facts as I know them. Is it a legitimate story? Was McLaughlin’s termination racially motivated? Am I right to hold the story or should it have been splashed across the front page?
I guess in writing this column I have alleviated my ethical dilemma. The story is here in print for all the world to see. But I don’t feel any better having written this. I like Rehak and I think he’s going to do great things with the Waller Police Department. At the same time, I hurt for McLaughlin. Other than having an understandably bad attitude, he didn’t do anything wrong.
I guess the moral of the story is that our attitude is everything. How we act and react to people and situations says a lot about who we are and our ability to cope and get along. It’s my sincere hope that everyone involved in this situation can learn from the experience, grow through it and come out better on the other side.