It’s all subjective. Some of the examples so far (like Shirley Sherrod and the “water buffalo” guy) fit the bill, I think.
I may have jumped the gun on my conclusion, so I’ll just say I’m leaning in that direction.
It certainly doesn’t seem like he suffered any significant harm. “A few days went by and the charge dropped without a whisper because there was absolutely no basis for it.”
So he was nervous for a few days. I don’t think that’s “significant harm”.
Can you explain the threshold necessary to reach “significant harm,” in your view? What kind of financial loss constitutes significant harm? What kinds of consequences other than financial would fit the term?
I’m reminded of the Black Knight from Monty Python, dancing around after King Arthur has cut off both his arms and claiming, “It’s just a flesh wound!”
I’d argue that significant harm is caused to college communities when free speech is thwarted by accusations of racism (pre-emptive or after the fact), through “speech codes” or harassment of speakers.
Example: the case of a New York City police commissioner shouted down when he tried to speak to students at Brown University.
So being called a racist every day to your face is harmless?
OJ Simpson & Mark Fuhrman come to mind as the most famous one.
And Charles Stuart and Tawana Brawley.
No, but for the short period of time described in the article, I don’t think it comes close to “significant harm”.
The anti-abortion movement has totally smeared Palnned Parenthood founder Margaret Sander as a racist. Which is odd, as she championed birth control, not abortion.
Fuhrman was falsely accused of saying something racist? I thought he admitted to saying it.
The Charles Stuart case is strange and bad, but I’m not sure where there is a false accusation of racism in it. It certainly has what turned out to be a false accusation of murder, but that’s very, very different.
The Tawana Brawley case is also very unusual, but the only possible false accusation of racism may have been towards Steven Pagones (who was also accused of rape). Pagones won a big settlement and had a successful political career, but if he suffered at all, it seems to me it was due to the supposedly false accusations of rape, not of racism.
She’s deceased, so I don’t think she counts as having suffered 
See, here I agree. According to the linked article, the author suffered a few days of “going around with his head hung low,” no formal accusations, no disciplinary processes, nothing except a vague rumor that evaporated – and may have arisen because he was teaching “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which is a racially-charged story and gives more than one chance for a teacher’s personal views to be confused with his literary observations. That’s technically harm, but of a very minor, transitory sort.
But when you talk about a university student who spent thousands of dollars hiring a lawyer, was formally charged by the university for violation of its code of conduct, and never formally exonerated by the university after months of the charge hanging over his head, I believe it’s fair to call that “significant harm.”
When you talk about a woman who was forced to resign by her government – who then tripped over themselves offering her job back when the full context of her remarks became clear – that, I believe, is fair to call “significant harm.” Even though she was offered her job back, she did not take it, because (I suspect) she knew that her actions going forward would remain under a microscope and it’s always more difficult to get the true story out.
It wasn’t a short time. The particular accusation was. But being called it to your face every day was a regular occurrence. So - is being called a racist every day to your face harmful?
If he suffered at all? Are you serious??
And I suppose Harry Crist Jr.'s family hasn’t suffered at all. :dubious:
From your cite -
I thought we were talking about false accusations of racism.
Regards,
Shodan
Taking offense at niggard or niggardly is ill-informed rather than informed. And about as sensible as fearing to use the word country because the first syllable sounds exactly like cunt.
No, not in that circumstance. The article makes clear that it was a generic insult – “ceremonial racism,” if you will. And it’s not even clear that being called a cracker is an accusation of racism.
“As one of the only whites in the Baltimore high school in which I taught, I was called a racist – “You white racist bitch!” or “You skinny white racist bitch!” – on a rather consistent basis, mainly by students I was disciplining.”
“Ceremonial racism”? I guess that makes it all better.
I only went by the Wiki article
But my point is that the suffering in this case was from false accusations of rape, not of racism.
If he was called a racist for many years, I suppose that might count as significant suffering. But nowhere in the article does he say this – the only time period he discusses (other than the word “consistent”) is a few days, after which it blew over.
So based on the article, I see no significant suffering.
He discusses two things. One is consistent incidents of calling him a racist. The other is a specific incident.
Yes, constantly being called a racist is harmless.