That's some nappy-headed hos there, I'm going to tell you that
Don Imus has since apologized for that comment. He's gone on the Al Sharpton radio show to, as he put it, "face the music". But tons of people are still calling for his resignation. What Imus was wrong, very wrong. But that aside there are few thing that I like to point out.
- There is great hypocrisy that exist in the Black community and other minorities communities. Chris rock has said much worse and has received standing ovations. Carlos Mencia, of the comedy central, is so offensive that I can't give him more than five minutes of my time. The much beloved Tupac Shukar and Eminem have both referred to C. Dolores Tucker, a well known civil right activist, as "Bytch", "Slut" and "mutterfucker", when she took a stance against using the same type of sexist rhetoric that Don Imus used to refer to the Rutgers basketball team. The NAACP then try to award him with an image award. Can you imagine the uproar, if any country music singer was to refer to MLK as anything but national hero and receive an award from the CMA ? Call it edgy, call it cool, call it artistic, call it whatever you want, but the fact of the matter is that when this type of rhetoric comes from people we like, most of us don't have a problem turning our head the other way. This can't be case. If we allow people who are part of the community to use these offensive terms, we have to be ready to allow other people to also use them. We can not appropriate words that have a clearly negative connotation in history, reintroduce in the pop culture vernacular and then complain when people of different race use these same words. No one has ever been offended by "Black is Beautiful" (Not referring to Guinness). If we want people to stop using negative words, we have to show by example and not just complain when some we don't like uses it. There are some (book) in the African American community that criticize the type speech no matter who it comes from and should be commended for that and also try to educate the community about why they shouldn't be used outside academia.
- For all uproar, very few people really care about the issue. Calling for Imus' firing is the correct thing to do for at the moment. This nation has very deep rooted racial problems that no one is ready to deal with and as longs as the right hands are greased and you're not to public about it, it's Ok. Remember Trent Lott?
When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either
[Wikipedia - Trent Lott Entry]
He resigned over that comment. But guess where he is now? Oh yeah. He is the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate. Clearly the people really upset about his comments made sure to keep the lid on him. Remember George Allen and the macaca controversy? Well he is now a Regan Scholar at the Young America's Foundation. Again what happened to all those people who were so outraged by his comments?
- This shows the failure of the NAACP as organization. It shows how this organization has failed to evolve as racial issues in this country take on a different facade. It's has not attempted any education campaign about the new issues facing the different races and to how to best deal with them. This is not the first time this happens, nor will it be the last. They could partner up with other minorities organizations, come with a curriculum, and lobby the Congressional Black caucus to have a law passed that mandates TV/Radio host must pass this class and be re-certify every so often. Of course that means that they have to update the curriculum and I really have no faith that they can do that. I think ESPN does more during black history month than the NAACP does all year.
- For the bad things he said, Imus did all say the Tennessee team was "cute". The Tennessee team is composed of 8 black females. Was that comment racist or sexist?
If you've been following this story, what's your take?
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