Laura Ingraham’s utterly ignorant directive to LeBron James (shut up and dribble) brought to mind a City of Alexandria manager saying something similar to me about a year ago — although I was “dribbling” at the time! The memory of the depth of angst I endured as a result of that admonition is still fresh. Point of fact, that incident was one of two that made me decide it was time to retire. But the concern of John Chapman and Will Bailey made my suffering easier to bear.
“Know your place” has been used since the advent of slavery to reinforce the notion that black folk are lesser beings with the capacity for nothing more than lesser roles ... especially so if you are a black woman. Ingraham’s focus on grammar is what one does when unable to deny the truth of what is being said.
Jacqueline Coachman
Alexandria