In a sweeping finding, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has written that Mississippi is discriminating against black state troopers in nearly every way possible, from hiring and assignments to demotions and discharges.

Quickly, state Rep. George Flaggs, D-Vicksburg, a veteran legislator with a key role in controlling the Department of Public Safety’s funding, called on Gov. Haley Barbour to stamp out any and all wrongdoing. Derrick Johnson, president of the state NAACP, which initiated the complaint, issued a statement voicing righteous indignation.

In some ways, this is all like a flashback 30 or 40 years.

It’s not 1970, when there were no black officers in the Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol, or 1980, when there was still resentment of minorities. It’s 2009 when 208 of Mississippi’s 607 state troopers are black — a ratio that mirrors the state population. Not only have black Mississippians been members of the MHSP for decades, they have been leaders up to and in all levels, including serving in the top post of commissioner of public safety. And they’ve done so with dignity and effectiveness.

A problem with the EEOC letter, to which the state has 14 days to respond, as current Mississippi Commissioner of Public Safety Steve Simpson said, is that it is vague and lacked specifics. Much of it is based on suspicion and speculation.

And that makes a remedy hard to fashion. As Simpson told The Associated Press, “Racism anywhere is usually something behind the scenes or is something in the smoke-filled dark rooms. It’s not something you routinely see in the bright sunshine of day.”

It’s also a matter of perception. When a black officer is assigned to extra duty or holiday work, is it because the help is needed or is it “punishment” based on race? When a white officer is promoted and a black applicant is not, couldn’t it be because, objectively, the white officer was better qualified?

The EEOC recommended, among other actions, that the state conduct racial diversity training for all personnel and revamp the promotion system to develop a process free of internal influence or manipulation. Those are steps that can be taken.

From a management perspective, the state can operate in a race-neutral way. It must and it should. What it can’t do or shouldn’t do is guarantee results.