myspace comments: Why was Al Sharpton claiming that Kelly Tilghman's comments were racist towards Tiger Woods?

This is a question posed by another fellow American.

I really don't understand what was racist about Kelly Tilghman's comments about Tiger Woods. I watched her on You Tube. Where is the racist statement?

1- Tiger is more Asian than Black.

2- Lynching is done to all races.

3- Kelly and Tiger are friends

4- Tiger said it is a non-issue.

5- There is absolutely no proof that this was a racist statement.

Did Sharpton once again overplaying the race card?

This is was my response.

1. The United States determined Tiger is BLACK.

2. Lynching was done to some whites in the west (outlaws) and mainly done to Blacks. Check your facts.

From 1882-1968, 4,743 lynching occurred in the United States. Of these people that were lynched 3,446 were black. The blacks lynched accounted for 72.7% of the people lynched. These numbers are large, but it is known that not all of the lynching was recorded. Out of the 4,743 people lynched 1,297 white people were lynched. That is 27.3%. Many of the whites lynched were lynched for helping the black or being anti lynching and even for domestic crimes.

3. Please......... Do you talk about lynching your friends?

4. Of course it's not an issue for Tiger since he has millions and doesn't live in the real world. Would Tiger even have a voice if he weren't worth millions?

5. The proof is in the history maintained by the U.S. readily available at The Library of Congress.

If you take race out of the equations, do you think the word lynch is appropriate for the Golf channel.

Would you please explain to me how a person like Kelly Tilghman is still employed with the Golf Channel or on television for that matter?

It is 2008 and racism is still being down-played by the United States of America because of people like you. You can slip up and accidentally say words like, "****", "Dam" or "***", because those are words people may use on a regular bases but reframe from saying for the sake of being polite. However, you don't slip up and say words like "Lynch" unless that is a word you use off camera but not in front of a camera, again for the sake of being polite. In the shadows of the Jena 6 case, where kids don鈥檛 show sympathy for those who suffered and lost their lives at the hands of lynching. How do you justify keeping a representative like Kelly Tilghman at the Golf Channel? And No, don't send me her resume. You don't really know what a person represent until they show you their true colors just as you showed us yours. I think, well I know, Kelly Tilghman showed us her true colors two weeks ago. Kelly Tilghman shouldn't get a slap on the wrist for making racial comments; she should've been fired, especially if the Golf Channel does not agree with Kelly Tilghman's comments. Yes, of course she is going to apologize to protect her current lifestyle as the privilege does. And Yes, Tiger may have forgiven her for making the comment but, what about all the other young black, Asian, Hispanic, and white men and woman who fall victim to this behavior. You don't understand the message you鈥檙e sending by supporting behavior like this. It doesn't matter what color you are lynching should not be discussed. The choice to maintain Kelly Tilghman as an employee is a choice to tell America its okay to say racist things or hateful things as long as you apologize for it.

Col. Charles Lynch, who often held illegal trials of so called local lawbreakers in his yard. (Whites were lynched in the west but blacks were the targeted victims of lynching.) Lynch would take the accused, and at times tie them to a rope hanging from a tree and then proceed to whip and eventually hang the accused to death. All of these horrific events would take place in the presence of an angry mob. In honor of Col. Charles Lynch, the practice of beating and hanging slaves mostly was named after him. Thus, the practice of lynching was created and used as a concept of vigilantism acting as both the judge and the executioner. I wonder how you would feel if your race was the target of such a horrific crime.

In 2008, who would think that the media and Americans like you would still take part in continuing to dismiss the horrible meaning of Lynching鈥? The actual practice of lynching was and still is perverse and incredibly violent. During the practice of lynching, black people were hung to death, dragged behind cars, burned, whipped, shot, and mutilated, all during the practice of lynching. Just think if you received your genealogy report and discovered one of your family members were killed by lynching.

How can we as Americans dismiss the true and only meaning of the word 鈥渓ynch鈥?and attribute this incident to a slip of the tongue? (The tongue will never slip up and say things your mind is not thinking.) Unlike other words used in the English vocabulary, the word lynch has only one meaning. For instance, the word 鈥?****鈥?can generally mean one of two things for example ***** could refer to 1. 鈥淎 female dog鈥?or 2. 鈥淐an refer to a lewd, immoral woman, a malicious overbearing woman.鈥? The word lynch is consistently defined as, 鈥渢he execution without due process of law.鈥?

Just as those who believed in lynching, does Kelly Tilghman also believe that blacks, minorities or anyone for that matter, are less than human and don鈥檛 deserve the same respect as others? Does the golf channel not believe their viewers deserve more than what has been expressed by Kelly Tilghman? My God, a Doctor could make a 鈥渕istake鈥?and perform the wrong procedure on a patient and lose his medical license. As an Anchor for the Golf Channel, you just get a two week suspension.

Sure, Kelly didn鈥檛 use the word Lynch in the same tone as a lunching mob. It has merely been claimed to be a bad joke but, one has to ask himself, how do I joke about lynching鈥?

She just randomly picked a word like Lynch out of her college educated brain by mistake? Perhaps she picked the correct word but didn鈥檛 mean to say it on live TV?

There is no way a person could use a word like Lynch and think it鈥檚 funny, especially in reference to a so called 鈥渇riend鈥?

Come on Golf Channel you owe your viewers and America a lot more than 2 weeks of suspension. How can I continue to promote Golf to my children as a civil and respectable sport when we have words like Lynch being thrown around in jokes?

Perhaps you should take a look at some of these photos to remind you and Kelly Tilghman of what lynching truly means.

http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/the-ly...

I will never expose myself or my family to the Golf Channel until Kelly Tilghman is removed as an employee.

I hope one day you can stand for something instead of being passive of things like this. The worst thing to do is spread ignorance without checking into the TRUE history of America, not the limited history found in our school system.

God Bless...