Anatomy of an Apology (Episode 19)

This week in the U.S., we celebrated Martin Luther King Day, an official holiday of service which strives to celebrate the Civil Rights leader’s life and legacy. This week, Shaunna and Lisa took a look at what it means to build an appropriate apology — whether it is to one person, a group, or an entire race of individuals. What is the benefit of an apology? What occurs in the absence of an apology? We examined this concept, starting with a recent prolific article, “The Truth in Black and White: An Apology from the Kansas City Star”.

The article directly acknowledged how Black Kansas Citians had been excluded overtly or covertly by its coverage. We also referred to a chapter in Former President Barack Obama’s recent book, “A Promised Land” where he, Angela Merkel, and Elie Wiesel toured concentration camps before Merkel again acknowledged the tragedies of Germany against Jews. Shaunna and Lisa discuss the lack of apology from the U.S. toward specific groups, the danger of skipping such essential step in the racial healing process, and we fear that endurance sport may be on a parallel path.

In an Ohio State University study, Roy Lewicki found that there are 6 components to an apology, and the more of these elements you include, the more effective the apology becomes:

An expression of regret.
An explanation of what went wrong.
Acknowledging the responsibility for what went wrong.
Declaration of repentance.
Offering to repair, and
A request for forgiveness.

Shaunna and Lisa deep dive into what the U.S. and endurance sport could look like the oppressed stopped apologizing for and an appropriate apology was offered by majority groups.