According to ESPN.com News Services, Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman has apologized for saying that young golfers should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." Tilghman's "apology" is the typical, sanitized legal-speak:
"On Friday during our golf broadcast, Nick Faldo and I were discussing Tiger's dominance in the golf world and I used some poorly chosen words. I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments."
The Golf Channel followed with its own "apology":
"We regret the unfortunate choice of words that Kelly used during the broadcast and apologize to anyone who was offended by her remarks. We take this matter very seriously. She has apologized privately to Tiger and publicly on the air."
Notice what is absent from both of these statements. While Tilghman claims her words were "poorly chosen," neither she nor the Golf Channel acknowledge why using the term "lynch" is deeply offensive. So let's help them out, shall we? According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, "lynch" means "to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal sanction." Merriam-Webster then references the good old Encyclopedia Britannica, which notes:
"[Lynching] sometimes involves torturing the victim and mutilating the body. Lynching has often occurred under unsettled social conditions. The term derives from the name of Charles Lynch, a Virginian who headed an irregular court to persecute loyalists during the American Revolution. In the United States, lynching was widely used in the post-Reconstruction South against blacks, often to intimidate other blacks from exercising their civil rights."
Indeed, lynching continued well into the 20th century, reminding us of the shameful legacy of racism that haunts our collective memory. In fact, the ritual lynchings in the Jim Crow South that became public spectacles were often celebrated in photographs. You might look at the sobering book, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, for a small glimpse of the terror inflicted upon the African American community in the early 20th Century.
With this history in mind, it is no small matter to invoke the term "lynch," especially in reference to a person who is partly African American. Thus, I find the apologies offered by both Tilghman and the Golf Channel to be shallow and inadequate. And for the record, the Golf Channel's website makes no mention of Tilghman or her comments at all.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Golf Channel has suspended Tilghman for 2 weeks. This story is now available on their website here.
THURSDAY UPDATE: Bryan Denham at Clemson University has made me aware of an interesting, and often troubling, discussion about this controversy at the Huffington Post.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
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4 comments:
"shallow and inadequate" probably describes most sports 'analysts' on their best days.
How true, how true.
I'll probably get slammed by this; but if it were a more high profile broadcaster that made the remarks or on a higher profile show, they would have been terminated immediately, to heck with suspension.
The traditionally male-dominated sport can ill-afford to lose the lone female on the payroll
No, I don't think slamming is in order. It's probably also relevant that the Golf Channel probably wants to keep an analyst that many in their audience find attractive. You think Erin Andrews would maybe get away with a little more at ESPN than Holly Rowe, for example?
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