Manners or morals? The choice is easy when the stakes are this high | Francine Prose
On 22 June, Stephanie Wilkinson, owner of The Red Hen, a restaurant in Lexington, Virginia, asked one of her customers – Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary – to leave. Wilkinson action has generated considerable controversy, and she has paid for it dearly.
Donald Trump, in a tweet, called her restaurant “filthy”. Rightwing conspiracy theorists have blamed her for statewide child abductions. Her business has been severely disrupted, and she and her family have been targeted for online bullying. Demonstrators, among them self-styled “vigilantes” and KKK members, have gathered outside the restaurant, discouraging patrons from eating at (as one hand-lettered sign said) “the commie cluck”.
In private, and in the press, Americans have discussed whether a moral response justifies
