Gimme some dap!

If you Google "fist bump" and "Obama," you will see a ton of stories reported by legitimate news organizations about Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, giving each other a fist bump, where they lightly knocked knuckles.

This is the perfect example of a story that's not a story. And more importantly, it shows the need for more diversity in newsrooms across America.

You may not know this, but everyday in just about every newsroom, editors meet around a table to discuss what's going in the paper the next day. Most of these editors are white men. So, when the photos of the Obamas giving each other a fist bump, AKA dap or pound, circulated around the country, the editors thought it was a story.

It's cute, but it's not a story.

Black folks have been giving each other dap for years. It's what we do to greet each other, when we agree on something. I think a University of Maryland visiting dance professor read too much into it when she was quoted in stories saying, "He's looking right at her, she's looking right at him -- it's a partnership, it's 'We did it.' "

The Washington Post dubbed it "the first bump heard 'round the world." And The New York Times suggested that June 3 be National Fist Bump Day, since there's already a national High-Five Day. It's the third Thursday in April, just in case you want to go around giving people high fives.

My point is that if editors were more of a reflection of society - truly diverse - when those photos were presented as a story, someone would have been in a position to say, "That's old news. I do that with my boys on the basketball court every Saturday" or "I don't see the story here. My sorority sisters and I have been giving each other dap for years."

My hope is that Americans will elect Obama in November and his history-changing inauguration will drive HR departments in newsrooms (and every other industry) to follow suit and pay more attention to the lack of diversity in their buildings and make the necessary changes.