Oh Imus....
Don Imus has disturbed the sleeping giant. I was trying to get some of my shit together and here this dude goes calling women from the Rutgers University basketball team "nappy headed hos..." Why Imus, why?
Someone who hates to be nappy so much that he's been perming his do since the days of the conk stepped up to confront Imus today. That's right, the spectacular, silky smooth, rythmically advanced Rev. Al Sharpton. You KNOW those are fighting words. Al told Imus that this debate isn't over had good he is, it's about the fact that what he said was racist. Imus said that he's humiliated by this event.. but that's not gonna be enough. Some people like Jesse Jackson and a 50 other people with flexible work schedules marched outside of NBC's Chicago offices today asking for Imus to be removed.
Imus tried to put his remarks in context on
"Our agenda is to be funny and sometimes we go too far. And this time we went way too far," Imus told Sharpton today."
Hmm, Here's my thing. Imus can go for all I care. There are plenty of talented disc jockeys who can be funny and edgy without being degrading or racist. So, I don't think the air waves will miss him too much. But that being said, I didn't know he even existed before last week and I've never heard his show. That's probably why I feel like this. But watching his video I think that he's pretty sincere. He even asked for a chance to apologize to the players and their families in person. Imus does know black people and terminally ill black kids come to his ranch in New Mexico and he and his wife go to their funerals when they pass away. I'm not trying to make light of this because it's sad that kids die. But Imus said all that to make put himself into context. He wants people to know more about him than his comments.
I haven't REALLY checked out these Rutgers chicks, so their heads very well may be nappy. But as a sister who has shunned relaxers for the past seven years, I have to just go on the record and say that "nappy" is a term that hasn't fully been embraced yet. I prefer, kinky, curly or coily, which is most accurate. But seriously, the real problem with what he said is the "hos" part, not the nappy part. I know that he wasn't only speaking about the black players when he said that, but you can't just call women hos for the fun of it. But, at the end of the day I know Don was trying to be funny. In conclusion, if I caused that much trouble for my employer there'd be no question about whether or not I should apply for unemployment.
This whole situation reminds me of a white young lady that I met recently. She's a roommate of a friend of mine and she seems to have been given a pass to use the N word by one of her black friends. I don't know this black friend, but I do know that those passes don't translate beyond the circle of friends who give it to you. She thinks that she can use the N word in the presence of all black people and recently learned that she can't. Should she be ousted from her home? NO! I didn't march in her front yard just because she said something crazy and racist sounding. So, I wish Imus the best of luck and I agree that good people say stupid shit all the time. I think he can learn from this lesson and move on. Much like my friend's roommate.
photo by AP
posted by Atsui_Gal @ 4:24 PM
7 Comments:
Craziness... you can call some college basketball players hos and jiggaboos on a national broadcast, and just get suspended.
I was listening to another national radio show this afternoon, reacting to Imus. The dj had girls calling in and telling how it made them feel to hear those comments. The saddest was a 7 year old little girl who started crying while explaining why you shouldn't say mean things about other people. Simplistic, but she was 7 and she understood that it was wrong.
His apology was even worse. He mentioned how the girls beat Duke and made it to the championship, and therefore didn't deserve his comments. It doesn't really matter if they were some strangers walking down the street. He was wrong.
Anywho...sorry this is so long. Most powerful was a 16 year old that called in and read an original poem about slavery, oppression and segregation. She broke into tears too. Here's her poem...
Violent
By Yvonne Espinoza
We’re violent because this is all we know
You taught us this along time ago
We’re violent because you made us this way
You beat us naked, you hung our people,
Raped our kids and stripped us of our pride
And you now wanna ask why?
Give us a reason not to be
You can’t, it’s impossible
Because to give us a reason, you’d have to right all the wrong you’ve done
But you can’t and if you could then
You’ve only just begun
You’d have to beg for mercy, plead and cry
You’d have to feel the pain we felt
The pain that took lives
You go through the hardships,
The trials and tribulations,
The suffering, the heartache, the dying babies
You sit on a boat full of hundreds of sick,
Old people living to die
How about you dance to make money
Look ignorant on t.v.
Go to jail for nothing
Harassed because others don’t like what they see
Have your people get beat to death
By those who get paid to protect
You eat trash to survive
How about you watch your people and babies die
Get sold for a dime
Kill themselves because they don’t want to live this life
We went through it then and we go through it now
And you know it’s true, and you still ask why?
How dare you have the audacity
Who made you king?
Despite common belief and despite what you think
There is only one king, one God
And he walks with me, with us
The ones who were forced to live in grief
Who were cut, killed, raped and beat
Like animals, brainwashed to think like you
You hacked away, pulled and dragged us down
Until we didn’t want to be Black or Brown
We didn’t want to be Colored or Negroes
We wanted to be High, Suddity, White Folk
We though if we looked, smelled, and act like you
We could live a regular life, and though we tried
You still continued to beat and lay us out
To hang us from our necks, to laugh at our bodies
You could never blame us for being this way
Because you taught us violence
So how dare you think of forming any kind of alliance
Now we know that two wrongs don’t make a right
But since we have none,
Why should we spare your life?
It’s your fault for all of this
And if you didn’t teach us violence
Then who did?
It couldn’t have been us
Because, remember, we’re ignorant!
You should be careful what you say
Because your words have power
Say it enough and it’ll come true…
I know you’ve heard of karma
God have mercy on you.
Yo, I heard Yvonne read this poem on air. Then the DJ Michael Baisden(?) played it again to close out his show. It was really sincere.
Part of me doesn't think that his comments should have cut this deep, but I think what we're seeing here is an open forum for people who are sick of the disrespect. I mean, he wasn't talking about every black woman or all women in general and the outcry is like a victim who's reacting to all the mistreatment she's every received. It's kinda ill.
I'm kind of shocked by the response. Here I am thinking that most people don't care or even see this shit for what it is.
Will the biggest racist please stand up?
Al and jesse are the 2 biggest hypocrites in the black community.
Why don't the "black" (although it is not really black it is more a carmel color) people stand up and say something about this?
I will tell you why because the "carmel" people are a bunch of whiney babies who always what a hand out from some one and always use the racist card!
Get over it will you!
No I am not saying all "carmel" color people are this way just like the "white" (although it is not white it is more of a light tan to carmel color unless you are from europe than you colud be light colored but not "white".
Why don't you drop the "color" calling and just say them people over there or something like that.
America’s racial “crusaders,” Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, are at it again. If there’s a racial injustice to right, they are on the scene to save the day. But… who is doing the saving, and who is doing the self-promoting? If Jackson and Sharpton really cared about ridding America of words and actions which are degrading to women, they would realize that Don Imus’s idiotic comments are small potatoes.
The other day on his radio program, talk show host Don Imus referred to the women of Rutgers University’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.” The comments set off a fire storm of reaction, which led Jackson and Sharpton to enter the scene.
The fact of the matter is that Imus’s comments are wrong and have no place on the airwaves. Racial slurs are not a “joke,” and Imus’s crude remarks should be rebuked. That’s why Jackson and Sharpton are stepping forward… to be the champions of racial and gender justice, right? Not so fast…
The good “reverend” Al Sharpton has a history of using racial attacks to further his cause. As noted in the 2003 column by Jeff Jacoby, in 1987 Sharpton spread a hoax that a 15-year-old black girl was “abducted, raped, and smeared with feces by a group of white men.” Sharpton singled out one particular white man, saying, “If we’re lying, sue us, so we can . . . prove you did it.” The man does sue and wins $345,000.
Jacoby also notes other incidents in his column, including:
1991: A Hasidic Jewish driver in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights section accidentally kills Gavin Cato, a 7-year-old black child, and antisemitic riots erupt. Sharpton races to pour gasoline on the fire. At Gavin’s funeral he rails against the “diamond merchants” — code for Jews — with “the blood of innocent babies” on their hands. He mobilizes hundreds of demonstrators to march through the Jewish neighborhood, chanting, “No justice, no peace.” A rabbinical student, Yankel Rosenbaum, is surrounded by a mob shouting “Kill the Jews!” and stabbed to death.
1995: When the United House of Prayer, a large black landlord in Harlem, raises the rent on Freddy’s Fashion Mart, Freddy’s white Jewish owner is forced to raise the rent on his subtenant, a black-owned music store. A landlord-tenant dispute ensues; Sharpton uses it to incite racial hatred. “We will not stand by,” he warns malignantly, “and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business.” Sharpton’s National Action Network sets up picket lines; customers going into Freddy’s are spat on and cursed as “traitors” and “Uncle Toms.” Some protesters shout, “Burn down the Jew store!” and simulate striking a match. “We’re going to see that this cracker suffers,” says Sharpton’s colleague Morris Powell. On Dec. 8, one of the protesters bursts into Freddy’s, shoots four employees point-blank, then sets the store on fire. Seven employees die in the inferno.
Jesse Jackson, the other “reverend,” has an equally infamous past when it comes to racial attacks, particularly against Jews. As noted in a Larry Sabato column, Jackson has had a tenuous relationship with America’s Jewish community dating back to his “Hymietown” comment:
Rev. Jesse Jackson referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York City as “Hymietown” in January 1984 during a conversation with a black Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman. Jackson had assumed the references would not be printed because of his racial bond with Coleman, but several weeks later Coleman permitted the slurs to be included far down in an article by another Post reporter on Jackson’s rocky relations with American Jews.
And these two are now purporting to be the spokesmen for injustice against black women? If they truly cared about getting degrading words against women pulled off the airwaves, as they appear to want in going after Imus, they would shift their focus to the rap music industry.
As covered in Michelle Malkin’s latest column, the current rap songs at the top of the charts are littered with racial and gender slurs at least equal to Imus’s. These “songs” are played over and over and over again. They sink into the minds of young listeners everyday. What kind of culture does Sharpton and Jackson think it promotes? Treating women fairly? Treating women as equals? No… and yet Jackson and Sharpton will spend countless hours attacking a white man and ignore an entire industry that is doing so much damage to young blacks.
The media need to stop turning to the likes of Sharpton and Jackson as if they were the racial police. Stop giving them a platform, and maybe they will just go away. Their words have no meaning, and their credibility is less than
Hey Mr. Anonymous, are you a kike or something? I see you obviously did your homework. I feel like you did more research on this blog than I did on my senior thesis...
Anway, you'd be happy to know that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have run campaigns against the rap industry. They have attempted to get radio stations to ban aggressive and derogatory lyrics. They have called for radio stations to ban artists who engage in lyrically violent battles with other artists. They also proposed a boycott against use of the N-word. This is not the first time that either of them have asked the FCC to tighten regulations. However, it is the first time they have the attention of a national audience due to the fact that Imus's show is a national syndication.
Thanks for the history lesson. You've done a great job proving that both men are human and, like everyone else, make poor decisions on occasion. No one is free of bias and there will always be people you don't like. For instance, I don't like ignorant people with tunnel vision. You very well may be one of those people.
Are both these men extreme? Yes. Does the black community know this? Yes. Will we still let them speak for us? Yes. Why? Maybe it’s like when your mom is in an argument that you know she is dead wrong about, but you still back her in public because she’s your mom. They aren’t stupid people and they do know what they are talking about. We need people on the extreme who are willing to speak about issues. That way when some form of compromise is reached, both parties may actually gain something instead of one completely ceding. If your representative is some middle of the road person, you will never get a fraction of your gripes on the table because that person is too busy trying to play nice. Perhaps you should take a class on negotiation.
While this particular instance may not be THAT serious, the underlying idea of this dialogue is that there are words and images that still invoke pain to the black community. While it may appear that this is a personal attack on Imus, I think it’s more of an awakening to the nation. Imus isn’t the only person listening to what is being said, everyone is, black and white. He just happens to be the unfortunate person that the example is being made of.
Umm OK I'm really sitting here scratching my head... What's with that "kike" comment? Did I miss something? Why would you say something like that? .... Anywho...
I'm in the camp that thinks this thing was blown completely out of proportion. Imus is just some asshole with a radio station who doesn't know how to act. That's pretty much all there is to it. I actually have to agree with the brave anonymous poster above that it seems like a self-promoting attempt to be in the spotlight for them. Imus was going to loose his show. There's no doubt about it. His behavior was throughly brought to the entire nation's attention, the man had sponsors to answer to.. The writing was on the wall. As usual, I wish that the dynamic duo had just shut up and waited at least long enough to determine if there was even any need to get involved in the first place.
Speaking of which... Can we please kill the assumption that Jackson and Sharpton are the spokespeople for Black people in the US? They don't speak for me or a munber of my Black friends. I have no problem with them advocating any of their positions etc etc.. I often agree with what they happen to be saying but their de facto Black leadership status seems obviously invalid and I'd love for it to go away.
Sharpton and Jackson are some of the only black people on the planet who are willing to still speak for all black people. Why? Because they're old school. They're from a time when black people weren't ashamed of their ghetto cousins. These guys have the mentality that we are one. It's the mentality that allowed us to mobilize and form a Civil Rights Movement. Honestly folks, without people like them we'd still have separate but "equal" living situations.
They love their race like MLK Jr did, and embrace every member. When a rapper calls women bitches and hos, they hold his hand and say "Son, that's wrong." Whether we agree with them or not, I think it's really great that these social dinosaurs who dare to be "black and proud" still walk the earth.
That said, they don't rep my thoughts on issues all the time, like Clay says. That's just impossible, which is why no one tries to speak for all black people. Is this method of leadership outdated? Yes. And beyond that, many black Americans don't want it or appreciate it anymore. I'm not big into conspiracies, but three words came to mind as I wrote this: Divide and Conquer...
Perhaps that comment came from the anger that every negative comment about Jackson and Sharpton involved Jewish people on that post, and the following quote "I will tell you why because the "carmel" people are a bunch of whiney babies who always what a hand out from some one and always use the racist card!
Get over it will you!"
Now, I also don't agree with everything these men say, but I do think they serve a purpose. They speak out against injustices that other people discuss in their homes, but don't speak too loudly in public because they want to keep their secure jobs. There is no way to agree with anyone all the time, but you can't ask for an advocate when you want and then ask for quiet when you think something is not THAT serious. If they had waited to see what would have conspired on its own, they would have missed an opportunity. Personally, I think it's inappropriate for anyone man to call a woman a nappy headed ho. I would have been offended, especially if my hard work and determination was recognized in that manner. Being a female athlete, it's hard to never get the recognition that a male athlete doing the same thing receives. Women athletes get smaller locker rooms, older uniforms, and gym times second to when men have the court. To have the honor of winning a national championship mocked in a way that envokes both sexual and racist sentiments would have been devastating to me.
So, while Jackson and Sharpton don't always speak for me, I would never ask them to shut up. I'm sure they are speaking for someone who doesn't have the clout to be recognized or the courage to do it alone.
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