My Week Talking About Racism: What I Learned

When I saw the clip last Saturday night of the former WHEC meteorologist Jeremy Kappell’s now infamous forecast, I thought, “This is bad.” Kappell referred to Martin Luther King, Jr. as “Martin Luther Coon King, Jr.”

I knew “coon” was a racist slur. I Googled “Martin Luther Coon” to put it into context. This is a longstanding way racists have referred to the iconic civil rights leader.

Kappell said he “crunched” his words and wouldn’t acknowledge uttering the phrase. He joined others who have said “Martin Luther Coon” and…