| advertisers began to withdraw from their contracts and there was a groundswell of opposition from staff working for NBC led by prominent African Americans such as Al Roker and Ron Allen. Less than 24 hours later, CBS terminated his radio contract as well. Imus and his sidekick, Bernard McGirk were making some comments about the NCAA women's basketball championship game between Rutgers University and Tennessee. The dialogue went like this: McGirk: Rutgers has some real tough looking women on their team; some of them hos even have tattoos. Imus: Yes, look at them nappy-headed hoss! (laugh, laugh) What is interesting about what happened here is that neither Imus nor his sidekick, based on observing them before, during and immediately right after they rendered their comments, expressed no sense at all that anything they said was improper, sexist or racist! It was only after the story exploded across the media that he/they realized how seriously brazen they were in crossing the line. Imus struggled to save his job by doing several interviews including one hosted by the Reverend Al Sharpton where he apologized and expressed his remorse for the hurt that his comments had caused. It is interesting that Imus was not joined in apologia by his partner in crime Bernard McGirk, the guy who actually made the lead-in comments for this fateful discussion. As is usually the case, most of the outrage was expressed, at least initially, from the Black community. That is unfortunate because what they said was so blatantly sexist and racist that ALL AMERICANS should be equally outraged and offended by these comments that only served to denigrate the accomplished young women from the Rutgers University basketball team. In a weak attempt to rationalize the hurt that he had caused, Imus tried to put his comments into a broader context stating that what he said is said many times more often by African American males in the process of denigrating African American women. I can see how those who consider themselves friends and supporters of Imus could hear his rationale and say that there is a double standard here. In an interview/discussion led by Al Roker where this question of a double-standard was raised, Roker asked one of his guests, Michael Eric Dyson what he thought about the fact that Blacks, rappers and other use this or similar language that degrades Black women? Dyson retorted, "Rappers don't have shows on MSNBC. Snoop Dog doesn't have the same standing as Mr. Imus who brings in presidential candidates, national reporters and others that Snoop would never have access to." Dyson said that the use of "nappy headed ho is an attack on all Black women and all that has been emphasized in terms of their natural beauty. I don't agree with Imus' rationale at all. As for Mr. Dyson, while it is true that rappers don't have the same national stage as Imus, that, in no way, justifies their use of this language either. Maya Angelou's response to all of this is very simple, "vulgarity is vulgarity no matter from whose mouth it comes and it is all wrong!" I couldn't agree with her more; those comments are negative and wrong no matter who says them. My kids all grew up smack in the middle of the revolution in rap music. If you ask them, they will tell you that there has never been a place in my house or my car for rap or any other type of music that denigrates Black women, or anybody else for that matter. Locally, Bill Wineke, writer for the conservative Wisconsin State Journal wrote a column entitled: "Imus wasn't really on a race rant," where he attempted to dismiss the racist and sexist comments as being the results of "joking around," not "aimed at race," that they were in fact "a compliment to the Rutgers team," because the public admires teams "that are aggressive and take no prisoners." According to him, all reactions from principled people who have attacked this language for what it truly is were reduced to being prompted by the effort to be "politically correct." This false line of reasoning is extended in another State Journal column written by Jonah Goldberg, entitled "Shocked by shock-jock." Goldberg dismisses Rev. Sharpton and other critics as "Civil Rights ambulance chasers" stating: "what on earth is wrong with the Rutgers women's basketball team? One player dramatically protested that Imus' insults 'scarred me for life.' Really? An aging, dyspeptic poster boy for Viagra says something stupid about you and you'e scarred for life? What of pride is their coach instilling in them?'" Bill Wineke must be out of his mind! I wonder how he would have acted if some prominent African American shock jock had called his daughter, wife or mother a White Ho? He certainly would not have considered that a compliment! I don';t consider leaders who are willing to take a stand and make individuals or corporations accountable for use of sexist and racist language to be"Civil Rights ambulance chasers." Unfortunately, we don't have enough people who are brave enough to put their reputations on the line to support Civil Rights issues. While I have always supported everyone's first amendment right to freedom of speech, it has always been clear to me that there are also moral limits to what is acceptable in society. There are, as the saying goes, "words that wound." Imus' words were in fact words that served to wound a specific group of individuals that did nothing wrong or deserving of such treatment by someone who was a major, nationally prominent individual. Mr. Wineke and Mr. Goldberg, with their "words that wound" have both served to victimize the accomplished student athletes yet again when they attempted to shift the blame for the sad situation on both the athletes and their coach already victimized by Imus and the related media circus. How outrageous! For those who don't have to suffer from the daily burdens of sexism and racism, the ability to push such occurrences to the side is a luxury that most of the rest of us cannot morally afford. As Desiree Cooper, columnist for the Detroit Free Press so aptly noted, "Though he has apologized --Imus said he was just cracking a joke -- I haven' found one Black woman who's laughing." There are also very few Black men, White folks and others of principle who are laughing either! Hopefully, somehow, some way, this tragic episode will provide one of those rare windows of opportunity that will give rise to a sustained conversation and some practical solutions that address how we talk to and about each other via all of our various mediums. I am hopeful that this dialogue will get kick-started by Imus in whatever venue he decides upon as he pursues the next phase of his career. There could no better way for him to redeem himself. We shall see. |
| The Literary Divide/Dr. Paul Barrows Don Imus crossed the line |
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| Don Imus, the eclectic host of MSNBC's Imus in the Morning simulcast and syndicated television/radio show had been under fire by MSNBC and CBS for the racist and sexist comments he made recently while on the air. Reverend Sharpton, the NAACP, National Urban League, Jesse Jackson and a host of other national leaders called for Mr. Imus to be fired. NBC took action only after several |
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