This "controversy" bears a strong resemblance to the hubbub caused earlier this summer when Boston Magazine published a list of the 100 most influential local people. Globe columnist Adrian Walker, among others, expressed outrage over the list's failure to include any African-Americans other than the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III.

As for Boston Magazine, while there's no question that figures such as Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral should have made the list, the attempt to make a civil rights crusade out of the magazine's tone-deafness is bizarre, to say the least. Why would African-Americans of achievement need the affirmation of a boring glossy?