By Jared Fields, Editor in Chief
I cannot relate to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day because I just don’t understand it.
I cannot relate to a history of abuse, oppression and hatred based on race. I cannot relate to the feelings that could come from such a history of racism because of my lack of that history.
As a white, middle-class male, I have no dark event in my culture’s past that relates to the oppression felt by African- Americans, Native-Americans, Jews and many other cultures and races.
In spite of my ignorance, I want to seek understanding of sensitive racial issues.
And the last few weeks could give us all a valuable lesson.
Two weeks ago, Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman was suspended two weeks for her comment in response to how young players could beat Tiger Woods. Her partner, Nick Faldo, jokingly suggested, “they should just gang up for a while.”
Tilghman replied, “Lynch him in a back alley.”
Not the best choice of words, considering the Tuskegee Institute recorded 3,437 lynchings of African- Americans between 1880 and 1951 in the South.
Tilghman’s poor judgment didn’t stem from malice or racism. She simply was unaware of the reason “lynch” is off limits in the same way Holocaust jokes would be specifically offensive to Jewish people.
In a competitive world where a female anchor must be pretty, smart, funny and above all, quick with a response, Tilghman’s choice of words show a lack of racial understanding more than an intentional jab to any person or group. Tiger Woods himself put the issue aside, saying he and Tilghman are friends, and that he knows she meant no harm.
Even worse than Tilghman’s comment was the decision of Golfweek magazine’s vice president and editor Dave Seanor to place a picture of a noose on the cover of the magazine to illustrate Tilghman’s controversial remarks. The decision cost Seanor his job.
In a more thoughtful and deliberate decision, Seanor didn’t understand or know the image could offend so many people.
Whether their actions were on-the-spot or a deliberate decision, Tilghman and Seanor made bad choices, even though they didn’t know it.
Tilghman and Seanor, like me and many other “white” people, don’t know what it is like to deal with a past that includes the hatred African-Americans, Jews, Muslims, Native-American, Hispanics, Asians even the Irish have faced.
Because people with a background like mine don’t have events in their past like the Holocaust, slavery, mass lynching, ethnic encampments, racial profiling and land theft, we cannot relate to topics that may be off limits to some.
What are “just words” to us are offensive symbols that recall a past we must put behind us.
Not every insensitive comment stems from some deep-seeded prejudice. Rather, from early in childhood our history lessons and textbooks present an overwhelming Anglo-centric perspective on the past. By dehumanizing people in the past to dull the negative side of history, we cover up and ignore the reasons certain words and symbols are painful to cultures.
Until we understand the magnitude of events in the past, we can’t relate to one another in a way to truly move beyond racism in our country.
So when Tilghman and Seanor made their unfortunate remarks, let’s not immediately call for their jobs. A reactionary slap-on-the-wrist firing and angry responses will not solve the heart of the problem.
Let us seek to relate to the people involved; then we can begin to understand the lessons that can be learned from our ignorance. Then our news anchors, editors and analysts can have intelligent and candid conversations about race that do not turn “lynching” into a light, laughable topic.
