I do not support and have never supported the notion that what Professor Shurtz did is deserving of losing her position at the UO and I believe the tenure system should protect her free speech right to do even stupid things. As you mention, her actions were foolish not deliberately malicious. You are also correct, in my opinion, that the university community is scapegoating her to protect their own privileges as white people, i.e., the UO's poor record of hiring non-whites for tenure-track positions. 
At the same time, it would be impossible to convey the degree to which white people are ignorant and presumptuous when it comes to the experiences of racism of especially black people, even or especially here in good ol' Eugene/Springfield. You have to have friends who are black to know. They'll tell you about the banality of racism and how it wears down the soul and makes (black) people behave like strangers to even themselves. White (supremacist) culture is a slow, terrible poison.