My buddy’s grandfather lived just a few blocks from us. At an early age we would go over and sit around Grandad’s kitchen table for something cool to drink.
It took only a few moments for the man, white skin wrinkled by age by the late 1960’s, to start throwing racial slurs around.
I’ve never professed to having the straightest of moral compasses, but even at that age it seemed wrong.
Why such nastiness aimed at people he didn’t even know, the only apparent sin being skin color?
Why expose the blank slates of those young minds to that kind of blind hate?
It occurs to me how little has changed beneath the surface as I watch the unfolding controversy over radio talk show host Don Imus and the “nappy-headed ‘hos” slur he used to impugn not only the minority heritage of most of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team but apparently their sexual virtue as well.
Imus has received a two-week suspension from MSNBC (that simulcasts his show on cable) and he has been allowed to appear on the Today show to offer his apologies.
But already the edges of the sanctions are softening. Imus is being allowed to delay his suspension until Monday so that a planned fund raiser can be held for his children’s charities.
Supporters point out that those charities help children of all races. Many long time friends insist that Imus does not draw lines based on color.
Clearly the controversy puts MSNBC between the high road and the cash cow, and many see the delay as a chance for the network to take the public’s temperature before deciding further action.
The network must also walk the line between condoning racism and the double standard of allowing Imus further out on the limb in the name of ratings only to let him hit the ground should the branch break. It’s not like he was hired for mild, middle-of-the-road fodder.
Then there are those who believe they must speak for entire groups of people, the Jacksons and the Sharptons, who feel the need to jump right in to defend the honor of these poor women even before they have a chance to speak.
And that’s where something good finally came of the entire mess.
On Tuesday Rutgers basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer allowed her players to speak out on what was said.
What followed was poised, intelligent and even elegant thoughts on how the controversy had diminished the accomplishments of a smaller school making it to the ultimate game of women’s college basketball.
Gail Shister of the Philadelphia Inquirer beat me to the thought when she wrote that the player’s comments “dispelled racial stereotypes far more effectively than the angry cacophony of talking heads elsewhere on TV”.
For me, the thought was more like, “Dang, Don, did you pick on the wrong group of ladies!”
They clearly didn’t need anyone to speak for them nor were they anything close to what Imus portrayed.
MSNBC must weigh its next move carefully.
The one message that can’t come out of all this is that putting down others can be profitable, either for Imus or his company.
Even a little kid sitting at a kitchen table 30 years ago would know that’s wrong.
UPDATE! Shortly after this was written MSNBC announced it will stop simulcasting the Imus radio show on the cable network. Late Thursday afternoon CBS announced that the radio show was being cancelled as well.
HEY! What do you think about Imus getting canned? Send your thoughts to scott.bremner@wsee.tv. Please write “Comments” in the subject line so I don’t miss it, and your ideas will be posted after mine.
(These comments are a little late in being posted because I was away from my desk for a few days. My bad. Also, some objectionable language has been ommitted which we don't believe changes the tone of the comments. This is the first time that has ever been done on this site. Scott)
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Mr. Bremner,
I have just read over your "Imus Protest". Not to directly respond to what your thoughts on the matter are, but to respond to the entire situation, and what i feel has been blown way out of proportion. Over the last week plus, the only individuals who have made any sense, are the women of Rutgers U, and their coach. I am neither black nor a woman, so the only way i can relate to these ladies is that i, for many years, played sports. I know how it feels to accomplish something many people did not see possible. To compare these ladies to the men of George Mason U, who went to the final 4 in last years tournament. The men of GMU came home, defeated, but to welcome arms of a community and school who praised them for the great accomplishment. These poor girls come home to controversy. They have worked to hard, to have their accomplishments brushed aside and forgotten.
As of right now, when the smoke clears, these women will probably go on to graduate from Rutgers U. and Don Imus will probably never work again. Now, its obvious to myself, and to everyone who has followed this, that the class shown my By Mr. Imus, and the ladies of Rutgers is night and day. I would use the term black and white here, but I'm sure that would be depicted as a racist comment.
On top of everything that has happened, the front runners for the "Black Community" you have Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson. I'm sorry, but here are two individuals who need to step back, and shut up. Here are two individuals who are not interested in equal rights, honestly i believe their interest in black rights is only a cover to promote them selves. The "black community" has been extremely miss represented in the entire situation. A future leader of the "black community" added his two cents on the subject:
“It’s a completely different scenario,” said Snoop.
There are some great individuals in the "black community" to speak for them, and to lead them. Those individuals however are over shadowed. Another issue, and this is a specific point. The NFL suspended 41 players for the season due to issues with the law. 39 of the 41 were black. Sports in general (white, black, Hispanic, Asian, etc..) need to stop being babied. They whine and cry about, rules like this for acting up, and getting in trouble with the law. The simple fact is that sports individuals should be held to a higher standard, because like it or not, children look up to them. That goes the same for everyone in the entertainment industry. Snoop Dogg, said that "these songs coming from our minds and our souls". I guess if Don Imus comments came from his mind and soul that would of made it OK?
I'm sure most of what i have written here will fall upon def ears. I also understand I'm not the most well written person who has probably responded two your article. The fact is, many individuals like myself, of all races, men and women alike, feel the Imus situation has been blown way out of proportion. Yes, he should of been suspended, and possibly even fined for his comments. Myself, just like everyone else, has said things either not thinking, or out anger, or for what ever reason, they did not mean, or it was taken one way, but meant another. But, racism is very much alive in this country, and it keeps getting stirred up by individuals like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (not Don Imus), and for these reasons, this country will never grow past seeing black and white, instead of individuals.
First time responder
Jerry Freitag
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He was wrong, but Sharpton and Jackson are wrong, black comics and rappers use the n_____ word and white honky all the time, as long as a black is using it---it is fine, talk about double standards and your news station should do a report on their double standards, they are more prejudice than white people.
Dolores Berroth
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Don Imus was wrong...dead wrong. But I don't understand the public outrage....or the fact that the same companies that are now distancing themselves from Don Imus, are making money off the same language used in various mediums. The only difference is that it's black people using the language, and that somehow makes it less offensive?
Peggy Strickland
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