modesty forbids me

By ( articles ) | Apr 22, 2004

Anna Q gets weepy-eyed when she thinks of her journalistic responsibility toward the little people. A friend offers his hanky:

Tom Brokaw, the NBC anchorman, remembers a young black woman who decided to march in the streets of Americus, Ga., during dangerous racial unrest there. "I'm often asked to name my most memorable interview," Brokaw says, "and I suppose most people think I'll say Dr. Martin Luther King or Bobby Kennedy or Gorbachev or Mandela or Margaret Thatcher or some other big name. But honestly, I always bring up that young woman. I was just 25 at the time and she taught me so much that night."

Black. A black woman. And she taught him so much. What a guy.

"... not to mention my exclusives with Fidel Castro and Mick Jagger and Pope John Paul and Michael Jordan and Princess Diana -- 'Just call me Di' she said -- and Idi Amin and Barbra Streisand and Caroline of Monaco and Osama Bin Laden (he gave me this 'Promise to Protect, Pledge to Heal' ball cap) and Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax and Pol Pot and O.J. Simpson and Cher ..."