Described alternately as “insular,” “Mayberry-like,” and “nearly all-white,” AP writers Tom Coyne and Ashley M. Heher have raised serious questions about the racial integrity of John Roberts’ boyhood town.
Having delved into Roberts’ religious affiliation, his wife’s social activities and even the adoption of his children, the AP, in the ultimate reach, is now conducting investigations into Long Beach, Indiana. The indictment begins:
Like many towns across America, the exclusive lakefront community where Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. grew up during the racially turbulent 1960s and '70s once banned the sale of homes to nonwhites and Jews.
With no mention of blue-collar Buffalo, New York where Roberts was born and raised until the second grade, the AP plays the race card deftly. With their usual contempt for fly-over country they sniff:
In Long Beach, nearly all residents were white when Roberts was growing up, a makeup that has changed little in four decades. Today, nearly 98 percent of the town’s 1,500 residents are white.
While conveniently ignoring the fact that most towns were not integrated when Roberts grew up, that didn’t stop our intrepid reporters. They next noted ominously that some properties in the town had racial restrictions dating back to the 1920s!
But after conducting what appears to be exhaustive research on the deed to his parents’ house, they were forced to conclude that “the Roberts property did not include a racially restrictive covenant.” Better luck next time.
Up next week on AP? Exclusive: Roberts preferred the Osmond Brothers to the Jackson Five!
