Collegian Online Edition

We’ve come a long way, maybe, Limbaugh says
by Rawly Bransom, Reporter

  We’ve come a long way since the time of segregation.
  We’ve come a long way since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
  We are now a land that tries to be equal in all areas.
  So we think.
  Every once in a while, something happens that shows us how far we have to go before race, sex, religion or even sexual preferences are no longer an issue.
  Rush Limbaugh’s comments about Donovan McNabb on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown on Sept. 28 were probably not spoken out of spite, but they do show just how much further we have to go as a country.
  “I think what we’ve had here is a little concern in the NFL. The media have been very desirous that a black quarterback does well,” Limbaugh told Chris Berman during his commentary Sunday.
  “There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team,” Limbaugh added as he spoke to Berman.
  The cry for ESPN to fire Limbaugh came from across the country.
  Every-one from Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark to Al Sharpton came out against Limbaugh.
  Limbaugh did resign the following Wednesday, saying he did not want ESPN, who is owned by Walt Disney, to have to deal with the backlash.
  Yet Limbaugh continues to defend his comments.
  He says they were a sign not of his own racism but of the racism inside the media itself.
  Still, Limbaugh’s comments—whether malicious or not—do bring the concept of prejudices to the surface for Americans to examine.
  What we often find, when we do examine ourselves, is a country full of prejudices where a black quarterback is the least of our problems.
  Are we still the melting pot of the world?
  Have those fires maybe grown cold, and do we no longer meld?
  Personally, I think McNabb is a solid, even gifted, quarterback who does have a good supporting cast around him.
  Still, so did many of the truly great ones.
  Where would Joe Montana, Troy Aikman or John Elway be without a great team surrounding them?
  Whether Rush Limbaugh is a racist or Donovan McNabb will be one of the great quarterbacks of all time has yet to be seen.
  What is apparent is that we as a nation have to use these little incidents to examine ourselves as well as those around us and use that knowledge to improve on the American way of life.