Letters to the Editor
JM Walker
Published Letters: 124 Editor's Choice: 4
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Ah
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[Read more letters about this article: Here]Done
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Where's the racism?
[Read the article: Imus offends]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Where's the racism? I read the excerpt, and he appears to be comparing the grooming habits/appearance of two predominantly black groups of women. Neither of the expressions "nappy headed" and "hos" smack of essential racism to me. Those are both pretty common among African Americans. Seems to me more a case of a white guy co-opting black slang. If he were comparing black women to white women, that'd be another matter entirely. At worst, his comments were insensitive (referring to the women as "hos"). Surprise! The guy's a shock jock. He gets paid to say inflammatory, outrageous things.
Can we please dispense with the kneejerk cries of racism? They distract from the real thing.
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domini
[Read the article: Imus offends]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]These women just pulled off a Cinderella season with high grades and becoming number two in the country in women's NCAA basketball, and it doesn't matter a peep because a vicious bully decides to equate them to dirty crack prostitutes?
Actually, between you and Imus, you're the only one who's equated them with crack whores. Imus used the expression "nappy-headed hos," an insensitive remark taken literally (as I already mentioned). My gripe is that his words are being spun as "racist."
Well-meaning but easily offended people crawl out of the woodwork to screech racism! at any marginally racial language. That's not making a stand for social justice; it's lazy parsing, and it further erodes the usefulness of the word "racism." Our country is full of very real racism, for which that word should be reserved. As far as I know, real racists don't watch/reference Spike Lee movies.
No matter what they do or achieve, their race will STILL be the only thing some whites will see (like Imus and his fans who don't think the comment was racists)?
I've stated why I think his words, poorly chosen (or perhaps appropriately chosen given his profession) are not racist. You claim they are, but I don't see where you've explained why.
What do the women of Rutgers have to do to have their achievements seen? There are plenty of white college women with tattoos, in basketball and other sports.
You're reading way too much significance into the flippant comments of one cranky old shock jock. Look at it this way, the majority of the women on both teams are black. He was comparing one group to another--one looks "hard," one doesn't. I don't know about that, personally, but it's obvious he didn't put much forethought into his comment. If we're psychoanalyzing our shock jocks based on their snarky comments, to me, this says more about Imus's tastes in women than it displays any kind of racist overtones.
That was NOT an accurate statement of their "grooming". But to some whites (Imus and his fans) all of us black women, no matter what we do or how much we achieve or act, will ever be anything other than these stereotypes. We can't be individualized. We can't be middle class. We can't just be for SOME white people. Imus pandered to those whites.
Sure. Some white people are fucking morons. So are some black people. There's a considerable portion of the human population that is ignorant, unsympathetic, and cruel. Posting on a blog and conducting a media boycott isn't going to change that. Take solace that racism is no longer the norm in this country, that many people denounce racism privately to themselves as an intellectually and morally bankrupt mode of belief and not merely publicly to maintain an air of propriety and ward off the PC police.
For the record, many black women have ripped on the gangsta rappers (whose audience is white) as race traitors, and many black organziations and media, from Essence to the NAACP to the Urban League to Girls Inc.
Interesting. I had no idea black people didn't listen to gangsta rap. That is a fascinating statement. It's complete bullshit, but hey. You do listen to R&B stations don't you? I live in a small town in Mississippi, and I'm constantly on the lookout for black men and women to drive by me blaring Blackalicious or De La Soul or The Roots, but that isn't what I hear pouring out of their windows. I'm sure some black women have ripped on gangsta rappers (whose audience is white and black and every other person in American who listens to popular music, of which rap is now the standard bearer).
DESPITE what white people think, Sharpton and Jackson are NOT THE leaders of black America-that's like saying Dobson and Falwell represent ALL of white Ammerica- so stop using publicity hounds as an excuse for Imus.
Thank Christ on a cracker. I personally wish more blacks read writers like Gates Jr. and West. I don't necessarily agree with everything they write, but I rarely agree with everything anyone writes. I'd rather listen to West speak (that voice!) than go to a club any day.