Teeing off on bias: Why four of York’s ‘Grandview Five’ are running for office

Five African-American women were kicked off of Grandview Golf Course in York County, Pa. last spring. Now four of them are running for public office.

Listen 13:13
Sandra Thompson (right) speaks alongside Sandra Harrison, both golfers and members of a group of local women known as Sisters in the Fairway. Last year, officials at the Grandview Golf Club in York called police on the group accusing them of playing too slowly and holding up others behind them. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)

Sandra Thompson (right) speaks alongside Sandra Harrison, both golfers and members of a group of local women known as Sisters in the Fairway. Last year, officials at the Grandview Golf Club in York called police on the group accusing them of playing too slowly and holding up others behind them. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)

Five black women were kicked off the Grandview Golf Course in York County, Pennsylvania last year, allegedly for golfing too slowly. The story got national attention, and a cell phone video of the incident quickly went viral. Now, four of the “Grandview Five” are running for public office. On this episode of The Why, we ask Sandra Harrison, who’s running for York County protonotary, and Sandra Thompson, who’s running to be a Common Pleas court judge, why they’re pursuing public service after this event in a city often fraught with racial tension.

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