MSNBC and CBS Radio have seen the light and suspended talk show host Don Imus for a whole two weeks. Time to pack the protest signs and go home? Not exactly. While the venom-spewing old cowpoke may be unseen for a bit, the new question is what to do with the apologists for Imus insults aimed at Black women and media peeps who contend he really isn't such a bad guy.
Like a troubled wife living with a nasty drunk, and sharing a raggedy filthy couch, some white journalist-types just can't seem to kick the Imus habit, or get a healthy divorce. They have stepped forward to vouch for his character and need to embrace this "teachable moment." Led by Tom Oliphant of the Boston Globe, they see redemption deep in the soul of the man who called Rutgers basketball players a bunch of "nappy headed hos."
Seems like whenever a Black person allegedly does wrong, the lesson to be taught is accountability, responsibility and facing the consequences of one's actions. Just ask teenager Shaquanda Cotton, who was recently released from a Texas facility where she was sentenced to seven years for allegedly pushing a white teacher's aide.
Or ask actor Isaiah Washington if white gays saw a teachable moment when he made the mistake of using the f-word to say he didn't call a fellow white cast mate a homosexual. There weren't a lot of discussions about him teaching anyone anything, expect to avoid angering what one African American gay rights activist called "the gay mafia."
Some media folks feel Imus' "nappy headed hos" slur regarding play during the NCAA tournament presents America with an opportunity.
But when Michael Ray Richardson, coach of the Albany Patroons, of the Continental Basketball Association, talked about hiring "big time Jewish lawyers" to handle his contract negotiations last month, it wasn't a teachable moment. Richardson was quickly suspended pending an investigation by the playoff-bound team. He won't be back this season.
Richardson reportedly said in a late March interview with the Albany, N.Y.-based Times-Union, "Listen, (Jews) are hated all over the world, so they've got to be crafty … They got a lot of power in this world, you know what I mean? Which I think is great. I don't think there's nothing wrong with it. If you look in most professional sports, they're run by Jewish people. If you look at a lot of most successful corporations and stuff, more businesses, they're run by Jewish. It's not a knock, but they are some crafty people."
Richardson is also accused of using the word "faggot" in an attempt to quiet a heckler during a game the same day. Within a couple days, he was suspended for the rest of the championship series and not allowed in the team facility. Richardson apologized a couple days later. Unlike Imus, he made no attempt to downplay the pain caused by his words, or cite previous good works that make him worthy of a pass.
I wonder if those comments have the same "lack of animus" Oliphant saw in Imus and put forward in a defense mounted April 9 during a PBS NewsHour broadcast segment with writer Clarence Page, and in his column the same day.
Newsweek editor Howard Fineman went on Imus' show April 9, appearing before Oliphant. "Just before I came on the show, I was coming upstairs and my cell phone rang, and it was some listener who called me out of the blue. I'd never heard of the guy before. I'd never heard his name. He called me and he said, 'Are you going to go on the show and finally confront this Imus guy? Are you going to quit enabling him?' " said Fineman.
"And, you know, I thought about that, and I said to the guy, 'You know, I'll puzzle that through on the radio.' And I would like to continue to enable you to do a lot of the good things you do. Including, you know, talking about stuff happening in the world, which you do a very good job of on this show. …
"You know, it's different than it was even a few years ago, politically. I mean, we may, you know �" and the environment, politically, has changed. And some of the stuff that you used to do, you probably can't do anymore," said Fineman. He described Imus' remarks as "a big mistake" and "a teaching moment."
Newsweek columnist Mark Starr came out against kicking Imus out on the street, saying the old coot was just an example how far things have swung in the name of entertainment. In Starr's view, we're all responsible.
Not from where Black folks sit.
Imus is so bad that even Page, the leveled-head, non-threatening Chicago Tribune columnist, argued that it's time for Imus to go. Page recounted having Imus take a pledge on-air several years ago to refrain from the racially-charged diatribes, including an instance in which Imus reportedly referred to Gwen Ifill, a respected African American journalist, as a "cleaning lady" allowed to cover the White House.
"To the 10 young African queens who have been disrespected and violated in public, keep your heads up high," said conservative darling Rev. DeForest "Buster" Soaries in a prelude to his Easter Sunday sermon. Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer was in attendance at the service in Somerset, N.J. According to a report in the Star-Ledger, Soaries called for Imus to be fired. "When I listened to it myself, I thought the guy is too ignorant to be on the air. … We would like Imus off the air," the article said.
The part about the incident not mentioned is that D. Imus belongs to that select group of entertainers that gets paid to be obnoxious. It is very possible that the radio Imus and the private Imus are two completely different people, as most actors and entertainers are. The fact that he chose to humiliate some talented, hardworking people makes you wonder, but it is not new. Don Rickles putting people down made me feel uncomfortable as a kid, and he was a comedian. Apparently society wants the Don Imuses on the air, acting as a role model, similar to spoiled brat athletes and movie stars (but they are young and foolish, Imus is a geezer). It's bigger than Imus; does his ilk add value to society or just entertain the masses and make money at someone else's expense (the shock jock recipe). Considering he is paid to be a jerk, the station should open their purse strings to the victims too, since it was just all one big joke, right? Imus really needs a new job to save his soul, a greeter at WalMarts, perhaps. Don clamoured up the tree of life and chose his limb to crawl out on; time for the saw.
by
Bernard (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 56 comments)
on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 2:33:12 PM
The question to ask is where is the humor side of life? If we can not make fun or have fun, without being rung through the ringer; what happens to us?
This is nothing new; in fact Imus probably didn't go far enough where he painted his face with shoe polish and practiced some Al Jolsen lyrics. And where did he get that racial slur from? It sure is not in the White-Guy volcabulary, it is from the black rap gangster language who can freely go on the air with their poison tongues directed toward their own people, and nobody thinks twice. If the same words came from a black comedian like Eddie Murphy we would be rolling on the floor laughing. Americans can't seem to know that racial discrimination is really Rodney King beatings, Job discriminiation, and racial profiling. How many remember the days of Amos and Andy, of Bob Hope, and other such entertainers doing Al Jolsen acts? Or who can not think that Michael Jackson is not an example of a black guy trying to be white. It is fun I think, and not meant to be derogatory. Al Jolsen is/was known as one of the Best Well known Entertainers in American History. They named a street after him in NYC! Yet Imus is lynched from the highest radio tower?
What gets me is they will fire Imus yet keep even worse on the air, namely Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh a drug addict.
In my opinion Al Sharpton took this as an advantage to stroke his ego because of the shootings in NYC, so made a mountain out of a mole hill. And now with the Rutgers Team being let off after being accused of raping a black girl, the idea is that we need to execute Imus? He in fact has done a lot of good things in his life, yet we can not let his entertainment be just that? It has to be a High Tech Entertainment Lynching?
Why not fire Bush for discriminating against Muslimsand Iraqis? America you are really not America when you go overboard, and you wouldn't know real discrimination if it were looking you square in the face.
by
Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments)
on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 8:00:54 PM
2 comments
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