This past Monday, ThinkProgress reported that Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman critiqued Barack Obama as being “much more white than black.” The newspaper received several complaints from readers about that comment, including one from Kendall Ridley of Houston who wrote, “Please let Mr. Weisman know that black culture is the all-encompassing experience of being black; there is not just one kind of black culture, as black America is neither monolithic nor single-minded.” The Post’s ombudsman Deborah Howell reports today that Weisman offered this apology for his insensitivity:
Weisman replied to me: “I was trying to say that chronologically, Obama spent his entire childhood either in the white environment of an elite Hawaii prep school or in Indonesia. But frankly, I’m not defending myself. It was a really stupid, insensitive comment, and I have apologized for it to the people who have e-mailed me.