TV Anchor Compares Her Black Co-Host to a Gorilla, but it Doesn't End the Way You'd Expect. This is the America We Need

On Tuesday, viewers of Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV morning news were treated to a tearful apology and — in my view — a lesson for the nation.

The whole mess started last Thursday, when host Alex Housden and her black co-anchor, Jason Hackett, ran a story — complete with video — of a gorilla at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Toward the end of the segment, Alex remarked to Jason, “Kind of looks like you.”

He immediately replied, “He kind of does, actually. Yeah.”

https://www.facebook.com/shjotr/videos/738778216546162/

Brace yourself for a shock: It didn’t end there.

On social media, a wrathful response emerged.

But here’s what’s surprising, and wonderful: Alex — who is actually very close friends with Jason — didn’t get fired.

She didn’t just disappear. She wasn’t simply discarded, never to be mentioned again.

Instead, the two friends addressed the incident on live television.

They did something not seemingly done much anymore: They discussed it. They came together. Jason expressed his hurt, but in a loving way. Alex apologized, with apparent genuineness.

I hope you’ll watch the video and find a tiny bit of…dare I say…hope in America — an example of what we can all do, despite the terrible and ugly division in which we currently live. We awake every day in a world where friends and even families have separated due to differences at the ballot box. But politics isn’t life; family is.

If we shatter the family in an effort to improve the country, we’ve lost our way.

All of us must be willing to come together, to speak our hearts in kindness to one another, to address our problems, in order for our relationships to work — to “form a more perfect union.” In marriages. In friendships. In families. Including the family of America.

Enjoy the video, and if you feel so inclined, share it. We could all use more of it.

-ALEX

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