A group of sixth graders tied me to a tree, spray-painted the word 'nigger' on me, and threw rocks at me. That was my first day of school. And the teacher really didn't do much of anything."

"I became aware of my racial identity on my first day of school, on my first day of kindergarten.
 A group of sixth graders tied me to a tree, spray-painted the word 'nigger' on me, and threw rocks at me. That was my first day of school. And the teacher really didn't do much of anything."

Those are the words of a memory from the mind of golfing great/tabloid target, Tiger Woods.

First recounted in a 1997 interview with Barbara Walters and later recorded for posterity in Charles Barkley's book Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?

It's a story that last week was called a flat out lie.

Tiger's kindergarten teacher at the time, Maureen Decker,  says now,  openly,  "I am asking Tiger for a private and public apology to put my mind at ease and set the record straight."

Maureen Decker made this charge,  in 2004, and media was silent.  She declared  "It's untrue. Absolutely untrue. None of it ever happened."

But now,  ''Tiger Bashing'' is the norm of the day and  Maureen Decker finds herself in demand. On Friday, she was flanked by superstar attorney Gloria Allred in front of an arry of cameras.

Gloria Allred, as official counsel of Get Tiger, Inc., also represents Tiger's mistress Joslyn James.

As Allred scowled on the dais, the 69-year-old Maureen Decker repeated that Tiger's father Earl Woods made up the story to burnish his son's history as a young man who had suffered on his road to greatness.

Tiger Woods has a responsibility to respond to Maureen Decker.

Forget the sexting and the strippers.

Tiger should be indignant at the mere thought that he would lie about something so searing, so inhuman, and so utterly tragic.

Tiger Woods should speak out on behalf of any child forced to suffer a hate crime only to be ignored when they sought help.

We live in a country where children are driven by humiliation and violence to commit suicide before their tenth birthday.

Often their complaints are ignored until it's too late.

Here is an opportunity for Tiger to open up about his private past for a higher purpose.

It also has political implications: the Fox News Right loves nothing more than calling victims of racism liars.

A sharp putter embroiled in ''Lies and Cover Ups'' --- Remember Richard Nixon and the ''Deep Throat'' ? 

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