Letters to the Editor
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hi deering! you can bite back, good
(i decided you really *were* black - a white woman would have said something in reaction to my last post - you must have agreed, but found it hard to say so). here's some more useful information. your quote (from anonymous - by the way, why not give your screen name so i could thank you?) "He was the guy who thought it was hilarious to play "Another One Bites the Dust" when police would find victims during the Atlanta Child Murders case, for example." - i have d different take on that. not on his callousness, but on the whole case. i remembered it. i watched it on TV. i kept screaming at it, "look for a *black* guy! look for a *black* guy!" - why? why would ANY black kid get into a WHITE MAN'S van? after all that publicity!?? it's just not easy, people aren't born with the mark of cain. another bit of information. i suppose you notice that i don't use "African-American" (of course, to be polite, i would, in your presence. i'd use whatever term you did). but i REMEMBER when Jesse Jackson (i *refuse* to call him "reverend" - not after paying child support via his non-profit, not to mention his betrayal of his very loyal wife. nor will i call sharpton anything but that - i live in NY, i've had enough of him). back to the real. the TV program. Jesse says "jews get to be called jewish-americans, irish get to be called irish-americans, black people ought to be called African-Americans". now the fact that jews *aren't* called jewish-americans and the irish aren't either (unless being contrasted with folks from "the auld sod - donkeys (don't call them that) versus "narrow backs" (another insult)) but his ATTITUDE. he stands there with crossed arms, looking like nothing so much as il Duce, DARING people to call his bluff. they didn't. he got to name the race. what arrogance! (sometimes, in a fit of pique, i refer them (those who call themselves african-americans) as "*jackson*-americans" (but only in the safety of my own home)
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Not to step on Domini's response...
>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.<
And the reason why that is is because people learned they couldn't say racist speech openly because they would get called out on it. I guess to you, those calling them out would be "the PC Police, Version 1.0."
>Interesting. I had no idea black people didn't listen to gangsta rap. That is a fascinating statement. It's complete bullshit, but hey.<
Yeesh. Do you _know_ any black people? Up in my area, we've got four black radio stations. Two play rap; another plays old-school and R&B; another plays dance mixes. So, yeah, not all black people listen to rap.
>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).<
Not only has ESSENCE been waging a long battle to get rappers to consider what they are saying, both Sharpton and Jackson have decried some of gangsta rap's messages. And the reason gangsta rap does so well is because white teenagers buy it by the truckload. So, that "black folks are totally responsible for rap degrading the culture" sword cuts both ways, laddie...
>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.<
Here's the deal. Tavis Smiley and Tom Joyner are the media voices of black America. Cornel West and Henry Gates are its academic voices (among many others.) Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are the activists black folks call in when they've been wronged and they know TPTB won't listen to them. That is why the families of cop-hurt victims like Sean Bell, Patrick Dorismond, and Abner Louima in New York called in Sharpton from the start--he knows how to get them the legal help they need...and how to keep their cases from getting shoved under the rug. It's amazing--Sharpton has done a lot of good up here in representing black citizens and helping them fight the system, but people figure the Tawana Brawley mess negates every single person he's helped to find justice. And what's ironic is that MLK Jr got the exact same "he's a race-baiter agitator" crap when he came along--but those people who hate Sharpton just love them some MLK Jr. Guess that's because the latter is safely dead.
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it's the misogyny, stupid
While I agree that "nappy-haired" is not a compliment in Imus' context, the word that offends me most (as a woman, as a professional, and as a mother to daughters) is "ho."
These women from Rutgers are beautiful, smart, and gifted athletes, a credit to themselves and their school. Imus and his producer erased everything but their vaginas when they called the Scarlet Knights whores.
It is a sad truth that we still live in a world where a woman's entire character can be equated with her sexual purity, where a woman's reputationcan be forever tarnished by suggesting - however untruthfully or preopsterously - that she is less than "pure" (and she can also be cut by the other of that sword by being too pure: to men like Imus, virginity is equally derided).
So this is my beef with Imus: he insulted all women, and set the planet back even further from true gender equality.
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Imus and his Cowards
I have enjoyed witnessing Imus take an arse kickin from Sharpton, it has been great observing this slug crawl and beg for pity..
I am also keeping a list of his apologists, defenders, deflectors, who rally behind this loser..this is great time to be in the USA....
Lovin It..lol,lol,lol