Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Charles Box served three terms (1989-2001) as mayor of Rockford, an impressive record for a black man in an overwhelmingly white community.
Box, a graduate of Dartmouth University and the University of Michigan Law School, faced surprisingly little race-baiting during his tenure at City Hall. There was, however, one episode about which he told me but which drew no public attention. It involved a School Board member whose racism was so deep-seated that the guy probably didn't even recognize it in himself.
The prejudice came to the fore when this guy said to Box that he was the "smartest black person I've ever known."
I was reminded of this matter when I read the other day about how Fox News blowhard Bill O'Reilly expressed great surprise at having had a pleasant experience in a New York restaurant operated by black folks.
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