Yup, racism, like all other sinful inclinations, is common to all, even to the editorial staff of the New Yorker. But, wait, we cannot say that, racism goes only one way. Right?
It never fails to amaze me that people so smart, well educated, well paid, and sitting at center of where it’s happening can be so lacking in common sense. To be sure, racism is problem. It always has been (cf. Numbers 12:1); and it always will be. Just as the poor will always be with us ... sadly ... so will racism, so will all sin, until the Last Day.
I think, in this case, racism was secondary. The primary consideration was: “How can we report on the growing electronic surveillance scandal under the Obama Administration without in any way damaging the Obama Administration?”
Racism, or phony aversion to it, was a gambit they found to implement the deflection.