Desmond Tutu and me

On the milestone of Archbishop Desmond Tutu turning 80, I’m reminded of a young 20-something reporter interviewing Tutu in Las Vegas.

Tutu spoke at Christ Church Episcopal in the late ’70s. Somebody called the office and said he’d be a great interview because "he’s gonna be somebody."

At the time Tutu was in the eye of the storm over apartheid laws in South Africa, a subject for which I knew very little.

I began the interview with him with this all-time dumb question: "How do you pronounce ‘apartheid’?"

He (graciously, I might add) took the time to explain things and said "apartheid" sounds like two English words: " ‘apart’ and ‘hate’."

That, of course, became the lead to the story.

Read more about Tutu here and celebrate the life of a great man who many years ago in Las Vegas was extraordinarily kind to a young, ignorant reporter.