. . . Indeed, everything about this case hinges on race. And not to teach it as such and against the context and backdrop of race is yet another missed opportunity to have that most important, albeit AWOL, discourse about American binary racism.
Simply put, this battery case would not have happened if Fisher were white. The waiter or employee at the Carrousel Motor Hotel ripped the serving plate out of Fisher’s hands exactly and only because of Fisher’s race. We know this patently because of his statement about ‘no Negroes in club’; so, to teach this case as an example of battery (only), while an interesting academic exercise, does it a disservice in that it is a case prescriptively about systemic racism in the hotel + restaurant industry in 1960’s Texas. READ MORE HERE
Elizabeth_Ferszt 