Dave Lenihan’s crash course in better letter management
By Matthew Halverson
One week, radio host Dave Lenihan was dodging accusations of racism for saying “coon” on the air—he says it was just the result of trying to say “coup” and “NFL” too quickly. A week later, he joined the NAACP and went from persona non grata to persona now grovel. The guy at the center of this spring’s biggest enunciation brouhaha sets the record straight—and chooses his words wisely.
What did you think as soon as you said it? Well, I knew I was trying to say something different. And then I said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” And then, this might have been a rookie mistake, but I tried to compose myself and went to break.
Some people said you brought more attention to it by apologizing. Do you wish you hadn’t? No. I teach my boys, if you do something that’s not necessarily right—even if you didn’t mean to—just own up to it. Say you’re sorry, and move on. I don’t regret saying I’m sorry, because I was sorry. I can’t live my life differently than how I try to raise my boys.
The day after it happened, NAACP chapter president Harold Crumpton praised your firing. The next week, you and your wife joined the organization. What happened? They recognized that if you make a big deal out of something like this, when an important issue does come around, it kind of diminishes it.
What was your first conversation with them like? I was a bit nervous. I was thinking, “Oh, how is this going to go?” But they were very supportive. They said, “We’re going to take some serious grief for supporting you, because you’re not African-American, but it’s just the right thing to do.” [Ed. note: They did take serious grief—local civil rights leaders called for Crumpton’s resignation after he offered the olive branch.] And I made some great friends. Here I am, a conservative Republican sitting in the suburbs—I would have never met [anyone from the NAACP]; I would have never interacted with them. And you know what? I found out they were exactly like me.
Dave, are you a racist? No. And if you look at the things that I’ve talked about on the airwaves in St. Louis—which is one of the reasons I think I’ve got such support from people—you’ll see the only thing I ever talk about is how to make America more equal.
