Letters to the Editor
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From one Anonymous to another
"Can Don Imus really be that clueless? It's one thing to pick on political figures, media big shots and millionaire athletes. Disparaging teenage girls, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, who overcame much to reach the (near) pinnacle of their sport is another."
Bingo! That is exactly what I had wanted to say. I'm not going to weigh in right now on the firing question, but how can somebody be so mean-spirited and such a bully? It's not like these basketball players are big, powerful figures in our society. In fact, they are really the opposite of "hos" -- they are admirable young women who work hard, have goals and make personal sacrifices. They did nothing to deserve this kind of attack.
I am also appalled at some of the Salon readers who, apparently, think it's funny to continue to heap insults on these young ladies. They think, apparently, that the targets of the insults have no right to feel offended or hurt. (I guess it's up to white guys behind computer screens to decide how other people should feel?)
Here's hoping that Sarah Palin, the basketball-player-turned-governor, will speak out in the ladies' defense!
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since, willy-nilly, i am the spokeman for the black race
were you white women enslaved? whipped and brought back in chains if you ran away? forced to live in ghetto shacks? you ate the icing on the civil rights cake. while black people are as depressed as they ever were.
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Oh, brother...
>eat shit, white bitch. where are the black people on this thread? <
Er...I _am_ African-American, genius. :)
>*I* a white man have to represent YOUR race?<
God, I hope not...
>with my "knowledge" limited to family members? deering, NEVER use the "j" word. i told you that before. or ARE you ACTUAL Klan?<
Since I'm not a coward, that keeps me from Klan membership right there...:).
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"another one bites the dust"
Just read through some of the letters, and Deering, if it's true what you said about Imus playing that song every time a murdered child was discovered in Atlanta, I am wondering why he wasn't canned long ago.
I suppose we can't dictate to radio networks who they will hire and fire. But if I were a politician seeking higher office (i.e., John McCain), I sure wouldn't go on the Imus show. Just appearing on the show is, in a way, associating oneself with his past pronouncements, many of which have been quite offensive to reasonable Americans, not just allegedly thin-skinned Americans.
Also, I think David Sugarman, in between some of his histrionics, did have a great suggestion. Imus should apologize in a concrete way, by funding a scholarship at Rutgers. That would be much more meaningful than a dialogue with Al Sharpton. I think Imus needs to make amends to the actual people he attacked, not simply on the airwaves.
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Nothing offensive!
I agree!
Nothing offensive should be allowed in our public discourse! No Limbaugh, no Imus, no Stern, no Chappelle, no Lenny Bruce! No Sex Pistols, Public Enemy, or Bill Maher! Or Bill Moyers!
Let's make sure no one is ever able to hear anything that wouldn't be at home on the Disney Channel. Why can't everything just be "nice"?
Imagine how great it would be never to hear anything that raises our hackles or causes us to disagree, call for a boycott, turn off our radios!
What a wonderful world that would be...
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domini
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.