Ohio College Paying $36.6 Million Damages After False Racism Allegations

Racism has been in the news a lot recently, with the recent allegations by Duke volleyball player Rachel Richardson coming under increased scrutiny.

But for one family owned Ohio bakery, a false racism allegation connected to nearby Oberlin College essentially destroyed their business.

The full details of the case are incredibly infuriating, but essentially, an incident at the store became a national news story in 2016 after the bakery owner's son chased down shoplifters attempting to steal from the store.

The shoplifters were black, and bystanders immediately began hurling accusations of racial profiling. It spiraled the following day, as students and Oberlin College administrators called them "white supremacists" and "racists."

"They chanted ‘Boycott Gibson’s’ and held signs that said we were white supremacists. They called us racists on their bullhorns," the owners said. "The students weren’t alone. College administrators were there, too, handing out flyers and addressing the crowd on a bullhorn. The protesters also distributed flyers that said we had a 'LONG ACCOUNT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION.'" 

The school had a long history of ordering food from the bakery, which immediately stopped after the profiling accusations went public.

The owners tried to get the college to retract the absurd racism allegations, but to no avail. The school even tried to suggest that any future shoplifting incidents be referred to the dean, not the police. Thankfully, that absurd request was denied.

A lawsuit, however, proved more fruitful.

A jury found that Oberlin was guilty, and they were ordered to pay over $36 million in damages as a result.

Except, the school refused to pay.

Whether out of a feeling that woke intentions should never be punished, or a distrust in our hallowed democracy where court verdicts are supposed to be adhered to, Oberlin simply ignored their financial responsibilities.

That's when one of the owners took to the internet for help.

Finally, after the Ohio Supreme Court declined yet another Oberlin appeal, they've relented and announced they will pay the $36.6 million they owe Gibson's bakery:

"Oberlin College and Conservatory has initiated payment in full of the $36.59 million judgment in the Gibson’s Bakery case and is awaiting payment information from the plaintiffs. This amount represents awarded damages and accumulated interest, and therefore no further payments are required."

This is both a testament to the power of media attention in getting woke institutions to finally accept their punishments and a concerning warning about how easily damaging misinformation spreads among the left.

Oberlin had continued to fight and fight and fight and refuse to pay the judgment, until a story about their absurd actions essentially went viral. Only then did they decide to drop all further recourse and pay up.

Additionally, the initial misinformation about a small family owned bakery just trying to protect its inventory from shoplifters almost cost them their business.

Because woke college students happened to be around the incident and inaccurately assume racism was involved, Oberlin leapt into action to pile on.

It was essentially a requirement for them, as staunch followers of progressivism, to view every possible situation through that lens, which requires activism and fealty to a woke mindset, no matter how absurd.

You'd hope that the lesson to be learned here is that institutions, liberal students and news outlets should wait for all of the facts to be learned before jumping on the "all white people are racist" train, but based on recent events, that doesn't seem too likely, now does it?