In the fall of 2011, a farmer deep in Iowa corn country was so startled by an unusual sight that he called the cops. The alert sent over police radio went as follows: “South of here walking westbound there is an Asian male wearing a suit walking through a farm field. He was dropped off. Nature of incident: suspicious.”It turned out that the man was dressed in khakis and a short-sleeve collared shirt, not a suit. But in a part of the state that was 97% white, it was the detail about the race of the man that was most salient....

Source: Wall Street Journal February 09, 2020 20:03 UTC