The Reverend Al Sharpton and Kelly Tilghman

Kelly Tilghman is the Golf Channel anchor who was suspended for two weeks on Wednesday for saying that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should "lynch him in a back alley."
I gather that she was laughing during an exchange last week with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Tiger Woods' agent said that he didn't think there was any ill intent. And if it matters, neither do I.

It was great to hear that societies "arbiter" of race related incidents, the Reverend Al Sharpton "piled onto" the fray in his usual conciliatory way by demanding that Kelly be fired immediately.
Would "the Reverend" been happier had Kelly said "... that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should murder, stab, kidnap, dismember, torture, or poison him in a back alley?"
Does this foolish yet inadvertent use of the word "lynch" call for her being fired or as happened, suspended? Certainly what she said would be offensive to many, yet does anyone for a moment believe that she meant to use the word as a pejorative? I think not.

Is the management of the Golf Channel proud of itself because of the action that they took?
I remember many years ago that I laughed when on the Today Show, Brian Gumbal called someone a "schmuck" not realizing what the word meant. This has nothing to do with anything but I thought that I would mention it.

I understand, (as well as any white guy can,) the horror of the word "lynch" but doesn't intent and context come into play here Reverend?

OK, it is confession time, I admit that in my lifetime (along with many others) have made inadvertent racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks while adlibbing or attempting to be funny. I tell horrid jokes using a Yiddish accent that certainly diminishes Jews.

I am NOT a racist or anything else like that. At times I do screw up. I would be happy knowing that when I do say something stupid that people will look into my heart and my history before I am condemned.

GOOD GRIEF!

Society has gone mad to a certain extent, egged on by those pillars of virtue and wisdom at the FCC, as well as my favorites, the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton.

The "Right Wing Control Freaks," and the "Hyper sensitive" including the FCC and others should somehow differentiate between the "accidental, unintentional, or just plain stupid remark" made by a person of generally good will, and the INTENTIONAL use of vulgarity or racially charged language by someone in a premeditated fashion.

NBC and CBS quickly folded under the pressure of advertiser opinions about Don Imus brought to a head by the Reverends throwing "gasoline" on what should have been a small fire and created a conflagration over the incident, and Imus was blown away.

Was "society" well served by the Imus firing and will it be served by Kelly's two week suspension?
Fortunately for me, when I do from time to time say something that is not politically correct in my business, which I often do, few are around to hear it and create a major event out of something that I have inadvertently said.

Kelly was wrong. Kelly was wrong. Kelly was wrong. (Are you happy now?)
Should we "punish her for making a stupid mistake?
I think not!

Norman Horowitz

Comments

[acg1]

It appears that Ms Tilghman feels bad about her comment and has apologized to Tiger, who has accepted her apology.I am a professional African American male, who recently retired from the military,and quite tired of Rev Sharpton asking for the firing of every person who utters a comment that he deems as "racist".We have all said things that were inappropriate, including Rev Sharpton,however, we should strive to learn from our mistakes and move on.

[MerlinJames]

"Tuskeegee Institute records of lynchings between the years 1880 and 1951 show African-American victims, as well as white victims, nearly all of whom were registered Republicans".
-------------------------
Since lynchings are not exclusive to African-Americans and as a matter of fact were more aimed towards members of the abolishist movememnt in its early days of usage by Charles Lynch for which the act is named...this is much to do about nothing except for the hyper-sensetive amongst us

[Poboy]

There is NO PLACE ON THE PUBLIC AIRWAVES for such language.

Period!

What the fuck was funny?

[Nommo]

"I am not a racist". Famous last words, by category.

[cloudy]

It's truly disingenuous to suggest that Al Sharpton is the arbiter of "political correctness" in the US. The concerns in response to joking about lynching are real, and the profession of television is, in part, one of avoiding such 'inadvertencies'. Was Kelly T's mistake the end of the world? Or even a 'serious disaster'. No. But neither is the two-week suspension of a well-heeled star. It's amazing what people will dismiss as trivial and what they become up in arms about.

There are many examples where I think 'political correctness' has been clearly misused, including by Al Sharpton. But this columnist wants to use Al Sharpton as a bogeyman to treat virtually ALL such concern as patently frivolous.

But saying something doesn't make it so. As Lincoln said [paraphrase] -- even if you call a tail a leg, a dog still has only four legs, because calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. The same goes for the world of punditry....

[homesteader]

Somebody back in the late 60's/early 70's declared that if you weren't ethnocentric--thinking that your own group--whether ethnicity, race, religion, social class, country, etc. was the best, you were apathetic and depressed.

Mind you, young anthropologists mostly thought that the group their first fieldwork was among was the best.

I've always thought that ethnocentrism could be described as racism lite.

So, we're all racists. In one way or another.

The Reverend Will Campbell famously agrees with the sentiment.

In fact, he said it first.

[tompoe]

Good morning, class. Today, we are going to learn how to call Norman "kike" and giggle. Perpetuating racist is an art form, and you kids need to learn early on, culture won't survive, without our help.

[Inkognegro]

There is a world of difference between Kelly Tilghman saying this to Tiger Woods personally and saying this on the open airwaves.

The fact that Tiger SAID he isnt offended isn't the issue, since she wasn't TALKING to Tiger. She was talking to the World (me by extension). I am offended. I find any casual reference to the term lynching to be insensitive and completely ignorant of the history behind it.

Do I think she should be fired? No, not particularly. I just don't care that much. But what she said is NOT okay and she and the Golf Channel need to apologize.

as for Mr. Horowitz, I dont think he is the least bit qualified to determine whether or not references (even ones made in jest) and I am rather curious why he thought his opinion mattered.

[texanna]

And, why isn't Faldo suspended? He's the one that began the thread by suggesting that the only way the other players were going to keep Tiger from winning was to take him into some alley and gang up on him. That's when Kelly injected the "...and lynch him." comment. Seriously, I was less offended by the lynch suggestion than I was that these two were suggesting that if you can't beat somebody, you should just do violent harm to them. You know, lynching isn't something that was reserved just for black people. It's a violent, lawless act that has been perpetrated on people of many colors throughout time.

[YellerDawg]

The fact that such a loaded word could flow from her lips so easily while in front of a camera calls into question her qualifications for this job. Just as when Phyllis George asked a recently released prisoner and the woman who had falsely identified him to "hug," Ms. Tilghman demonstrated that she is unqualified for such a high-profile job.

[Zenpilot]

Well, Tiger himself wasn't offended by the compliment Tilghman awkwardy bestowed upon him. Everyone else should probably just relax.