"Students will not intern at
"Students will not intern at Miami hospital." This is really sad. I don't blame the woman who called the police after overhearing the students' comments -- yes, she overreacted, and yes, she almost certainly wouldn't have reacted in that way if they were white, but in these times I'd be hard-pressed to tell people to fail to report suspicious activity. It allows the police to investigate, and as long as they do so fairly, that's not a bad thing.
I also don't blame the police, who from all accounts seem to have done a good job. They turned out in force to respond to an allegedly serious threat, quickly realized that the threat wasn't really serious after all, and completely exonerated everyone the same day.
On the other hand, I have very little respect for the hospital in question. Anonymous racist threats caused the hospital to retract the students' internships, and that's simply inexcusable. These men have committed no crime -- they aren't even accused of anything -- and the hospital is denying them their positions because it's afraid. Fear is no excuse for racism. I can understand the desire to have everyone wait a couple of weeks for things to cool down; that's good for all sides. But the hospital should be supporting its students and deploring those who would deny them the opportunity to be physicians. Shame on its executives for being unwilling to provide whatever extra security is needed, and for failing to maintain the students' internships. Whoever made those decisions is an embarrassment to the standards of equality and decency that this nation stands for.