The instant ethics train wreck, courtesy of The Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman Ethics Train Wreck, The Ferguson Ethics Train Wreck, The George Floyd Freakout, the Obama Administration Ethics Train Wreck, the DEI Ethics Train Wreck and The Great Stupid, is described by Campus Reform, thusly:

A primarily black student group at the University of Missouri was recently forced to change the name of that it is planning on hosting. The Legion of Black Collegians reportedly intended to name [a back-to-school barbecue event] the “Welcome Black BBQ,” but was forced to change the name by the university administration. The event, which is scheduled to be hosted on Friday, will now be called the “Welcome Black and Gold BBQ,” a reference to the school’s colors. The group wrote in an Instagram post on Aug. 16 that it is “heartbroken” at the name change.

Ugh.

In a sane world, there is no reason that a black organization titling a back-to-school event “Welcome Black” would offend anyone with a brain larger than a pinto bean. But we do not live in a sane world, or a sane country.

In a society where race is relegated to its proper status and double standards don’t run amuck, black student organizations on campuses would be neither necessary nor acceptable (just as white student organizations are not considered acceptable.) But Americans don’t live in a society where race is relegated to its proper status.

In a higher education environment where colleges and universities have not engaged in blatant racial discrimination and enabled speech and activities that targeted specific groups for marginalization and hostility, no school administrators would feel compelled to block something as seemingly benign as a play on words employed to promote a student event, in fear of being sued.

But the many colleges and universities have engaged in blatant racial discrimination and enabled speech and activities that target specific campus groups for marginalization and hostility.

In a healthy culture where black citizens do not feel compelled to express animus and distrust of white citizens (who are demonized for purportedly expressing animus and distrust toward them) a black student group informed that its little pun was offensive and not sufficiently “inclusive” would shrug, think, “Wow, that’s silly” and accept a more neutral name.

But we don’t have a healthy culture, and black citizens do feel compelled to express animus and distrust of white citizens as a matter of justice and right.

Verdict: this episode could not happen in a healthy America. Those who have created the conditions that created this and other divisive scenarios for their own political and financial gains are ethics villains.

We can only hope that they are eventually held accountable.