Justice

Race, the Supreme Court, and the McKinney Pool

A pending case will decide whether suburbs far beyond Texas can use income to bar poor, black residents from more than just their pools.
McKinney Police Department Corporal Eric Casebolt was placed on administrative leave after a video circulated on YouTube that shows him forcefully detaining a teenage girl and drawing his sidearm on others at a pool party in McKinney, Texas.Brandon Brooks/YouTube

After a video spread widely over the weekend showing a police officer slamming a teenage girl to the ground and drawing his sidearm on others in McKinney, Texas, people everywhere are asking how this could happen. Why did police respond so forcefully to kids taking over the pool on the last day of school?

A case before the Supreme Court of the United States yields some answers about the factors that led McKinney residents to call the police in the first place. Some time this month, the court will render its verdict in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project, Inc.—which draws on the racial and housing divisions exposed in McKinney this past weekend. McKinney specifically is connected to the Supreme Court case, and the future for this suburb and many others like it is bound to the court’s decision.