In firing Baker, the Tennessee Hospitality Association and the Greater Nashville Hospitality Association came to the wise decision that if a CEO doesn't understand that forwarding an e-mail comparing the First Lady to a chimp as extremely hazardous to your career, then he probably shouldn't be running their campaign.

We are talking about public relations, after all.

In an interview, Baker offered an apology to those offended and said he never thought of himself as a racist nor as racially insensitive.

If you say so.

In most situations, being a racist alone can't get you fired, but letting people know you might be one can be hazardous to your financial health. Baker was too slow-witted to have understood that memo.

I know Baker wasn't the only person on the planet to forward the Mrs. Obama-as-chimp e-mail to friends.

Like it or not, sharing an off-color, racist or sexist joke is as American as apple pie, but if you have something to lose, as Baker did, you had better be very careful about how you express your freedom of speech.

It would be nice if we as a people could merely shrug our shoulders in response to an e-mail like Baker's. But the overt and subtle racism many black folks face every day in offices run by the Walt Bakers of the world won't allow for that response just yet.