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politically correct police are increasingly out in force. This leads people in public life to be sent to the media equivalent of the gulag—fired, shunned, silenced—for raising the wrong questions and displaying independent thought. When I see charlatans and prevaricators sacrificing the standards of journalism and free speech on the altar of political correctness, I am compelled to speak out.
    Daniel Schorr, my fellow NPR commentator, who died last year, used to talk about the initial shock of finding himself on President Nixon’s enemies list. I can only imagine Dan’s disgust if he saw that NPR today has created one of its own.
    A lot of people in this country are tired of being afraid to speak out. I think that’s part of why so many came out so strongly in support of me. Whoopi Goldberg, for example, who walked off the set when Bill O’Reilly made his initialcomment about Muslims being responsible for 9/11, came to my defense after I was fired. She said NPR sent the “wrong message” about the need for people to speak up about their feelings and have an honest, respectful discussion of tough issues. “NPR, get yourself together,” she said. Jon Stewart dedicated a segment of
The Daily Show
to defending the importance of giving people room to speak their minds. At his rally on the national mall, Stewart offered support for me, saying, “The press is our immune system—if we overreact to everything, we actually get sicker—and perhaps eczema.” James Rainey, writing a column in the
Los Angeles Times
, said Schiller and Weiss “treated a moment of candor like it was a capital crime,” while ignoring the rest of what I had to say in opposition to anti-Muslim rhetoric. “I thought this was the sort of candid conversation about race and ethnicity we were supposed to have,” he wrote. “Didn’t President Obama suggest that only open dialogue would chip away hardened misconceptions?”
    The
Washington Post
editorial page made a similar point: “In a democracy the media must foster a free and robust political debate, even if such debate may, at times, offend some people.” The
Post
concluded that in debating O’Reilly I “was attempting to do exactly what a responsible commentator should do: speak honestly without being inflammatory.”
    I believe I’ve been vindicated in the months since my firing. Ellen Weiss resigned in January 2011 in the wake of the public’s response to my termination and NPR’s investigation into how it was handled. A few months later, in March 2011, Vivian Schiller resigned following a scandal in which a former NPR executive was recorded on video making disparaging remarksabout the conservative and Tea Party movements and constituents. I believe the compounding controversies became too much for the NPR board and alerted it to the fact that the institution needed to be reclaimed and reoriented in a manner that would allow it to live up to its virtues and purpose. I hope it does.
    As for me, this episode has proven to be an inspiring reminder of what we cherish most in this country—our ability to freely engage one another in honest debate over the issues and ideas that determine our lives. I am a proud American, a registered Democrat, a Christian, a straight male, a black immigrant, a father of three, and a grandfather. This country is interested in, and built on, the insight, opinion, humor, and racial and ethnic diversity—the wide range of human experience—that I and others bring to our work. Closing ourselves off from one another and one another’s honest opinions—especially at this crucial juncture in the nation’s history—is the last thing we should do, encourage, or accept.
    My goal in writing this book is to help advance the national conversation beyond the familiar litany of anecdotes of who got in trouble for saying what. I want to look more deeply at the problems of censorship and political correctness in our society and show how they are undermining our