What did you say?

I live a life a lot of loafers dream of. I work at a radio station where we are the mouthpiece of the community. We speak, people listen. Hell there are days where when we speak, we wonder if people really do listen. Then there are days you wish people weren't listening. I've had a few times in my career in radio where I have said things on air that I know were embarrassing & at times pretty funny. I've even been in trouble with the F.C.C. once or twice for actions leading to possible reactions, but never have I been afraid of opening my mouth on air until the day I read about Dave Lenihan.

A talk show host for KTRH in St. Louis, Lenihan had been in a rather heated topic with a listener talking about Condoleezza Rice, when a completely inappropriate slip of the tongue (if you even want to call it that) happened:

"She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football, she's African-American, which would be kind of a big coon," said Mr Lenihan. "Oh my God - I totally, totally, totally, totally am sorry for that. I didn't mean that."

After several attempts to lessen the impact of that statement, he tried to either convince himself or the listening public that he tried to say "coup" instead of the racial slur. Dave Lenihan was fired almost immediately by KTRH management post comment and public apologies were airing about 5 times an hour.

While reading about this incident, it referred to another similar incident that happened in Las Vegas back in January. A morning show weatherman was refering to Martin Luther King day and again "misspoke" and added the slur between Luther and King while on air. Later on, the weatherman tried (like Lenihan) to lessen the impact of the statement by saying a different word other than the slur and still didn't gain the sort of appology he was seeking. Managment let Rob Blair go shortly after the conclusion of the morning show and offered deep seeded appologies to the entire community.

The issue was strange in this instance. The N.A.A.C.P. accepted the punishment Blair was given and continued on with their organization. All agreed he fessed up to his actions and the punishment fit the heinous circumstance that it occurred. Blairs friends in the community tried to rally to his defense, including some high level African-American members of the community. It seemed to just fall on deaf ears (the same that hear everything in my opinion) and the issue was then shelved and moved away from public view and everyone returned to work as normal.

After reading and listening to both sides of the arguments, I have to say that I find it hard to believe that both of these people, Rob Blair and Dave Lenihan made a simple word mistake. To make the mistake in the first place, both had to have known what the word was & had to have used it in the past at some point to make a point. That's certainly not something people use in everyday conversation. We all are aware of the racial slurs in our region where we live. Each and every one of them is hurtful & spiteful and shouldn't even be uttered even in jest. Yet they're there. Open for anyone to listen to and take offense.

Remember, a simple slip of the tounge is saying a weather forecast calls for "fartly cloudy skies" instead of "partly cloudy". I guess it's easier with each generation to question the actions of the previous, especially with racial inequality in the country. There is no mistaking some slips of the tongue, no matter how hard you try to cover or explain.