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I’m about done on the Don Imus story. Not because it’s not important to me, but because people like me that actually listen to (and used to watch) his program on a regular basis have only a small voice in the huge volume of static that currently surrounds the story. People that never listened to (or watched the show) have wasted no time weighing in on the controversy and their vitriol about what happened has shouted down the rest of us that actually have a bona fide perspective.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - what Imus said about the Rutgers’ ladies’ basketball team was wrong. He knows it was wrong and is working very hard to apologize. He’s paid an incredible price for a moment of stupidity and that is unfortunate. I still support him and for those sponsors that will continue to advertise on his radio program, you’ve got my business… those who caved in to the pressure, well, it’s a free market and this customer chooses to shop and watch elsewhere.

But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about the generation prior to the baby boomers - the children of the post depression-era. The generation of my parents that includes Don Imus. Those folks who have recently retired (or as is typical of this group, refuse to retire) and are watching the world around them change faster than they can adapt.

There’s is a generation of people that has seen race relations and civil rights go from lynching to tepid equality. There’s is a generation that was raised with the ‘N’ word as common vernacular for a person of African American descent. There’s is a generation that was well into adulthood when Martin Luther King marched in Selma and race riots were occurring in American cities. There’s is a generation that either through action or indifference brought civil rights and racial equality to the forefront. And there’s is a generation that no matter how politically correct we demand they be occasionally says something that betrays the racial insensitivities of their youth.

I don’t care what kind of saint you profess yourself to be or what demographic you fulfill, you’ve had thoughts or made racially insensitive comments in your life. I do it all of the time. Sometimes I catch it, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes those around me catch it. Sometimes they tell me, sometimes they don’t. Those who know me, know that my saying it is not out of a motivation for malice. It’s out of a failure to tune my ‘PC’ meter to a level high enough to stifle the comment. That is my shortcoming.

And that is the shortcoming for any person who is a part of the majority in any community or culture. It’s also a more difficult hurdle for someone of an older generation to overcome. While someone of my generation may have our ‘PC’ meter tuned to a level of M, the previous generation may only be at a level of N, and the next generation could be at a level of L. As we move forward on the spectrum of time someday we will reach a level of A. But until then, is it right to condemn someone for a slip of the tongue?

There is an old white man’s burden that exists - a level of racial sensitivity that older generations have created and on occasion are incapable of meeting. Instead of hyper-publicizing and over-penalizing them for an indiscretion, perhaps it might make more sense to make note of the gaffe, consider the contextual history of why we are offended and then move on.