The Way I See It
By Joseph C. Phillips

People Say the Dumbest Things

File this under “people say the dumbest things.” 

During a Golf Channel telecast of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, announcer Kelly Tilghman and co-host Nick Faldo were discussing young players who could possibly challenge Tiger Woods. Faldo jokingly said perhaps the youngsters should "gang up (on Tiger) for a while." The pair laughed a bit before Tilghman responded by saying, "Lynch him in a back alley."  Later in the telecast, Tilghman attempted to rectify her gaffe saying:  "I can assure you that there was never any intention to offend anyone. I'm sorry for any misunderstanding."  She has continued to apologize and has apparently even spoken to Tiger personally. It may, however, take a bit more genuflecting than that to save her job. In spite of her apology and Tiger’s acceptance, she was suspended for two weeks and there have been calls from some quarters that Tilghman be fired. 

This is not a case brimming with ambiguity.  Anyone that heard the broadcast or read the transcript understands there was nothing malicious in her words. She was trying (without success) to be irreverent.  Woods has been so dominant, has set the bar so high that the only chance young golfers may have to compete is to lure him into a back alley and do away with him. So the joke goes.

However, in the macabre game of race, people are not merely responsible for what they say -- or rather what they mean, but must also be held accountable for the meanings that others attach to their words. Tilghman’s crime was not racial hatred but racial stupidity.  Her words were not the verbal equivalent of a noose hanging on an oak tree in Jena Louisiana.  Rather, she committed the unforgivable offense of letting slip with a quip loaded with racial baggage and for that she must be publicly flogged, lose her job and possibly her career.

That is not to say the joke would have been funny had she made it in reference to a white golfer (as opposed to one that is caublanasian); it wouldn’t have. (Perhaps a reference to Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan would have been more appropriate.  At the very least, it would have been a sports reference.) Without the specter of race standing watch, would this have been an issue?  Possibly. But instead of talking about what she didn’t mean but should have foreseen, we would be discussing the implications of a sports announcer suggesting that rather than attempting to replicate the example of discipline and dedication practiced by Woods, athletes should resort to cheating and dirty tricks in order to compete – a discussion that I think would be far more interesting and far more fair than the one currently on the table. 

Tilghman's suspension does not further the cause of racial justice.  Nor does it move us towards racial reconciliation. In fact, the purposeful disregard for meaning is what prevents us from the very conciliation we seek.  It is the topsy-turvy hyper-sensitivity borne of race and in our contemporary times has reached truly absurd levels.  Compliments become insults and reality is turned upside down; one is not allowed to acknowledge that black men are articulate, that black athletes are athletic or that black folk like fried chicken.  Recall the Washington D.C. “niggardly” controversy?

At some point, people must be able to say what is on their mind without censoring everything for fear of meanings being distorted beyond recognition and interposition by the race police. Such obstacles lessen our ability to truly speak to one another. Instead of true communication, we get bogged down in race and are thus prevented from a true and significant exchange of ideas.  

This generation did not create the race game.  It is, however, a game that we cannot win and is thus one I truly wish we would finally resolve not to play.  I understand that it is a fine line we walk, but that is all the more reason to respond appropriately to what people mean and not lower the hammer for every poor joke or dumb thing someone says.

Send me your ways of seeing it at Josephcp@netlistings.com