So Kelly Tilghman, the lady that said golfers should “lynch” Tiger Woods has been suspended.  I’m not sure how she hasn’t been fired, but I guess a suspension is something.
What’s nothing, however, is Tiger’s statement that this is a “non-issue.”
Sorry, Eldrick, but you don’t get to determine whether this is an issue or not.  This actually has nothing to do with you.
Yes, Tiger was the person toward whom this bit of foolishness was directed.  That said, he wasn’t the person toward whom this was truly offensive.  Granted, I have no idea how Tiger’s just letting this slide.  I’ve let a few things go with friends because, in many cases, I realized they truly didn’t know any better.  No doubt in my mind that she knew better.  And if she didn’t, she’s too stupid to be allowed to talk on television.  Just that simple.
But everyone should be offended by this.  There is nothing funny about lynching.  Nothing.  I can find humor in pretty much anything–particularly things wholly inappropriate–but there’s none here.  The reason–there’s not a single thing funny about the idea of taking someone against his or her will and having him or her killed without any semblance of jurisprudence.  Nothing.  Lynching is one of the most terrifying, indefensible, and nauseating phenomena in the history of this country, and I have no desire to hear anyone, let alone a white woman on a golf course, act like that’s some kind of joke.
What Tilghman said was offensive to those who were actually lynched, those who had relatives lynched, and those of us that continue to deal with the latent attitudes that made lynching possible.  Actually, no need to stop there.  That should have been offensive to everyone with a brain and any sense of historical perspective.
Tiger’s opinion on the topic is worth knowing, but it doesn’t matter.  That he’s not bothered doesn’t dead this as a larger issue.  This isn’t about him.  This is about everyone.
Tilghman should have been fired immediately.  If she thinks, at any point, that such a thing is appropriate, then she doesn’t have what it takes to work on live television.  I also don’t know if she’s got what it takes to tie her own shoes.
This wasn’t a faux pas, or a slip, or anything else.  This was an unquestionably racist statement.  That’s fireable, and it should have been in that case.  It’s not just the language.  It’s the sentiment.  And if the sentiment was a joke, that lynching someone is worth a chuckle or two, then it might be worse than if she was dead-ass serious.
So Tiger can let it slide.  I won’t judge him for it.  But I’m not letting it slide, nor should I or anyone else.  I’m not content to have racism thrown in my face with a chuckle, and I’m not going to get over it because the King of Cablinasia doesn’t care.
There are jokes to be told about that time in history.  This, however, wasn’t the joke and Tilghman, certainly, wasn’t the person to tell it.  Black folks have been too much in America to be asked to tolerate at something like a lynching joke, and everyone needs to respect that.