When someone writes "whites only" and "coloreds only" on two water fountains at Tosa West, is it really worthy of television news coverage?

I’ll admit that my first reaction, after distaste and annoyance, was “at least they’re learning history there.” Because that choice of words isn’t an accident.

Was this a racist provocation or a bit of really bad judgment by a giddy teen? Who knows? I guess each of us will read it by the light of our own experience and bias.

I’d like to think it’s newsworthy because it’s meant to offend, and we are shocked by intended offensiveness. That doesn't really seem to be the case in our argumentative and confrontational world, though, does it?

When WauwatosaNow posted the article and invited people to “weigh in on this incident in Tosa Town Square," the reader’s forum, it looked a little like itching for a fight. Some folks get pugnacious in that neck of the woods.

But students and others are writing thoughtfully and responsibly about the incident. If that continues, and we have a real conversation about race in Wauwatosa, it’ll be a good thing, not an exploitive one.

My kids tell me racism is my generation’s problem, not theirs. I’d like to think they are right. Let’s hope there aren’t too many of these throwbacks skulking the halls, permanent markers in hands.