“So much for post racial America.”

That was Judge Marcia Cooke on her Facebook page after a run-in with Bay Harbor Islands town council candidate Kenneth Eskin.  The Herald has the story here.  And here is the Judge's Facebook post describing the incident:

My Facebook posts are pretty neutral, and rarely personal. Today's post is personal and I doubt it will evoke neutral response(s).
It is approximately 9:30 am. I am leaving for work. Hence I am dressed in the female legal eagle/corporate attire: navy blue suit, pearls and pumps. I am carrying a coordinating bag and briefcase. As I approach my car, a man approaches me with leaflets. Our town elections are in a few weeks and I assume he is a candidate for one of the vacant council seats. Many candidates come to the condos and do the meet and greet. As I approach my car, the conversation:
He: ‘What family do you work for?’
Me: ‘Excuse me, I live here.’
He: ‘Oh’
Me: ‘Yes, for over twenty-years.’
He: ‘Oh.’
As he tries to hand me campaign literature, I get in my car and drive away.
Yes, Kenneth Eskin, I live in Bay Harbor Islands.
So much for post racial America.

 Eskin responded to the Herald:

“I’m not going to deny it. It wasn’t malicious, I asked a question,” Eskin said. “If I offended her, I would apologize to her. I certainly meant nothing by it. There was nothing racially inspired.”
Eskin, 69, is running for a seat on the Bay Harbor Town Council. The election is April 21.
He said he approached Cooke on Tuesday morning while she was putting things away in her car and asked what family she worked for. He said he was trying to pass out campaign leaflets in the parking lot because he was not allowed inside the condo building.
Eskin said that he had no idea who Cooke was and that he had made an assumption because of the town’s racial makeup. Bay Harbor Islands is home to 5,854 people, 92 percent of whom are white.
“It’s a quick thing when you introduce yourself to strangers. You only have five seconds. I don’t know if that’s an excuse,” Eskin said. “There is like 3 percent of people of color on this entire island. You never know who you are talking to.”

Yikes.