This was a sign for a Yard Sale in Everson, Pennsylvania this past weekend..

[Jim Lane]

64. Maybe. Not all racial discrimination is illegal.

For years there was an annual ruckus about the custom of holding the Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, because the club wouldn't admit blacks as members. That exclusion remained in effect until 1990, a quarter century after the enactment of the Civil Rights Act -- and it was legal. As a private organization, the club could set its own membership requirements.

No racial discrimination is allowed in a place of public accommodation, such as a motel in Atlanta or a rib joint in Birmingham (two businesses that figured in important Supreme Court cases about the Civil Rights Act).

This yard sale is a one-time event, not an ongoing business, and it's being held on someone's residential property. On the other hand, members of the public are obviously invited. So is it more like a motel, or more like a country club? Offhand, I don't know. I'm a lawyer, but nothing in my law school coursework or my subsequent practice has involved the law of yard sales. All I can say with confidence is that it's wrong to assume (as some people do) that racial discrimination is always and everywhere illegal.