I think that there is little doubt that the comments that he attributes to the overwhelming majority of Fresnans are certainly racist. If we grant that point, then the next thing to do is to assess whether McEwen might share these same ideas. I would say that he does. I don't think that he would say it in the same manner, but the same sentiments are there. He does call downtown a sinkhole, and that we shouldn't pour, or waste (don’t remember which term he used) any more money into downtown. And then he end by saying that the new library should be placed at Harlan ranch. The Harlan ranch part may have been sarcasm, but he does make the point that the library should be put someplace where someone will use it.

This goes to the question you asked about whether you would be considered racist if you said that Bush hates black people. And the story you recount about the Fulton mall. I don't think anyone would say that you were racist for saying that Bush hates black people. But if you were to say that that we need to do something about the Fulton mall because there is no one there and we need to get people out there, all while standing in the mist of many, many people walking down the mall, sitting on the benches, buying things, and having lunch or coffee, but were unable to even see the people there because they are black, brown, yellow, or poor then you would be displaying racist/classist sentiments. And if you set up your comments by saying that the overwhelming majority of fresnans believe that downtown is too brown, too black, to yellow and that we need to stop pouring/wasting money on downtown, then those comments though they may not be the way you (McEwen) would put it, but it would not be unreasonable to judge the sentiments as being similar, or even the same.

No, McEwen doesn't say that those are his words, nor that he feels the same way, but he does think that money is wasted on those very same brown, black, and yellow people, they are not worthy of it, and that they are in fact no bodies, as opposed to the some bodies at Harlan ranch.

Apparently McEwen wasn't being sarcastic about the racist ideas that the overwhelming majority of Fresnans hold, only, and this is perhaps unjustifiably generous, that it is a waste of money when you spend money on brown, black, and yellow people because the overwhelming majority of people are not going to go to downtown because it is to brown, black, and yellow.

Yet he doesn't question our spending money on areas that are too white, because brown, black, and yellow people don’t go there. Nor does McEwen challenge or call out the racist sentiments of the overwhelming majority of Fresnans.

Is McEwen racist? I don’t know. Did his article have racist/classist over/undertones? I think yes.