Houston Chronicle Edits out Racist Phrase from Syndicated Column

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Where did he go wrong? Syndicated sports columnists Norman Chad was trying to lecture that there were not enough black sports editors in America, only 4 of 305. As Tim Graham noted, he even managed to get in a dig at Newt Gingrich: "We're whiter than Newt Gingrich's Fourth of July barbecue."

But later in the piece, he said he knew one of those few black editors, Garry D. Howard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Here is the version that ran in the Houston Chronicle, cleansed of racism:

I actually know one of them pretty well — Garry D. Howard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which carries my column.

I noticed Howard was black the first time we met, largely because of his skin color. But once I got by that I realized he spoke English somewhat satisfactorily and understood sports and journalism reasonably well.

There have to be more of him out there somewhere.

But here is the original version, racism intact, that ran in other papers such as the Washington Post:

I actually know one of them pretty well -- Garry D. Howard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which carries my column.

I noticed Howard was black the first time we met, largely because of his skin color. But once I got by that -- and it did take me a while to get by that, because when someone is that dark, it just throws you -- I realized he spoke English somewhat satisfactorily, understood sports and journalism reasonably well and could eat an entire meal without spitting out his food.

There's got to be more of him out there somewhere.

There have got to be blacks out there who can eat without spitting out their food? Thanks for the advice. Thus ends the Norman Chad lesson in tolerance.