“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” Many people have heard that saying for years from parents when being teased by other children. Well, the recent comments and decisions by some paid professionals are putting that saying to the test.
By now most of you have heard that the Golf Channel Kelly Tilghman, suggested on Jan. 4 that one way for young players on the PGA tour to deal with the challenge posed by Tiger Woods would be to “lynch him in a back alley.” Tilghman quickly apologized to viewers and to Woods directly. Tiger said he forgave his friend of 10 to 11 years, calling it a “non-issue” and that all was behind him.
“It was unfortunate,” Woods said. “Kelly and I did speak. There was no ill intent. She regrets saying it. In my eyes, it’s all said and done.”
Well sorry Tiger, but it is not that easy for some. In the past year a national syndicated radio host, Don Imus, has referred to women of color playing basketball as “nappy headed ho’s.” A very successful TV personality “Dog The Bounty Hunter” (Duane Chapman) has been recorded telling his son not to date a black girl because ” I’m not going to take a chance ever in life of losing everything I’ve worked for 30 years because some drunken nigger heard us say nigger and turned us into the Enquirer magazine.”
Speaking of magazines, Golfweeks Dave Seanor, vice president and editor, thought it was appropriate to put a NOOSE on the cover of its Jan. 19 issue. According to Tuskegee University, 3,466 blacks were lynched in the United States from 1882 to 1968. These facts must have somehow gotten lost in Mr. Seanor’s memory.
So what is driving this wave of public racial insensitivity? No one can give the exact answer. Some people believe that this is a racist country at its core and this is how a certain number of people really think. Others say that some black people refer to each other with words that have a negative history (nigger, boy, dog, bitch), so what is the big deal?
There are some people who think this country is making positive strides in racial interactions. For example, a black man is considered by some to be the leading candidate to be president of the United States. However, these people do not speak for the majority of the country.
Whether you agree with one of the opposing sides or have your own opinion, we should all have a raised eyebrow with this current trend. The moment we start to allow racial insensitivity to become the norm again we will be a taking a major step back.