Wait for evidence

Fifty- two former McDonald’s franchise owners have filed a lawsuit accusing the corporation of racial discrimination.

The suit alleges that, among other injustices, McDonald’s steered Black franchise owners to economically depressed, high- crime locations with higher operating costs and lower sales — essentially that the company deliberately set up Black owners to fail.

The company has, predictably, denied the allegations.

Already the lawsuit has captured significant media attention, unsurprising given the current climate of scrutiny for potential systemic racism in America’s governments, corporations and very fabric.

Until additional evidence emerges, this can only sow division.

The U. S. remains divided on whether such ingrained bias even exists or whether individual instances of racism and bias are just that — outliers in a country that has sought for more than 200 years to live up to its own founding principles.

Every story that can fit the narrative is quickly cited as evidence of systemic oppression, whether it actually is or not. There is political and financial hay to be made from stoking such division.

Maybe McDonald’s is guilty of what the former franchise owners are accusing. If so, the company should be brought to justice and punished accordingly.

But maybe it isn’t. And this will wind up as another in a string of instances co- opted to fit a narrative.

The courts will decide. In the meantime, it is reckless to prematurely cite events as evidence of a worldview before all the facts have emerged. If the temperature is to cool in this country, we must be more patient in making up our minds about such heated incidents.