Saturday, April 14, 2007
Don Imus: Problem or Merely Problematic?
Well, they really showed Don Imus who runs the world. Certainly not the First Amendment. And certainly not a dried-up ol' has-been of a disc jockey whose "humor" hasn't been funny since sometime in the mid-1980s.
No, Rev. Al and Rev. Jesse run the world, at least when there is a question of race (or at least an opening to inject race into it). In this little game of life, the final score, if you believe the Revs., was: Racial Justice 2, Don Imus 0 (or less than).
Leaving the First Amendment questions aside (and I always hate to do that), was what Imus said about the Rutgers women's basketball team worthy of all the furor and the media coverage? If you answered, "No!," you're a winner, regardless of race, creed, or color.
What the mere shadow of his former radio self said was stupid, despicable, insensitive, abusive, repugnant -- how many adjectives does it take here? But, besides missing the point that he should be free to say those words (so long as he is ready to take the heat for it) -- you know what they say about speech not truly being free unless it is available to everyone, even the people who disagree with us and/or offend us -- the whole business made Imus a scapegoat for a much larger problem in modern American society.
As Newsday columnist Shaun Powell pointed out: Where do you think Imus came up with the expression "nappy-headed hos"? Did he add it to his vocabulary in grade school, or maybe junior high?
Of course not, he got it from that segment of the American black community that does hip-hop music and rough standup comedy. And no one -- especially the Rev. Al and the Rev. Jesse -- said a word about firing the "musicians" or the comics.
No one said that about Rev. Jesse when he uttered his anti-Semitic remarks a few years ago, or about Rev. Al when he slandered a lot of white folks by weighing in (pun intended) on the Tawana Brawley case and the Duke lacrosse players case. Of course, I guess you can't suggest firing either of those self-appointed voices of the black community -- since Rev. Jesse's main job is being Rev. Jesse, and Rev. Al's main job is being Rev. Al (and showing off all his bling as a job on the side).
They both say their cases are "different" from Imus's. Just how so, they don't say. Because they're not. Offensive, racist, insensitive language is just that, whether spewed by Don Imus or a black preacher/rap artist/comedian.
And that is the real problem. Unfortunately, most of the media, including the black journalists who, as a group, condemned Imus and demanded his firing(s) weren't smart enough to recognize it. Fortunately, a few black journalists, the ones who see the hypocrisy and have the cajones to speak up, like Powell, Larry Elder, and Leonard Pitts, are breaking ranks and pointing their fingers in the directions they need to be (of course, so are the right-wing media flakes -- O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Coulter, ad nauseam -- but they have zero street creds on this one, since they've been as guilty as Rev. Jesse and Rev. Al in the past). The problem is broader and deeper than one white radio "personality" -- whose audience has been smaller than the Rutgers basketball team for years now -- desperately trying to get someone to laugh at him.
The Rev. Al and the Rev. Jesse are no different. As one of my astute colleagues has suggested, they seem to be just as desperate to get someone to take them seriously. They apparently recognize that they have become as antiquated and irrelevant as Imus, now that Barack Obama has emerged as the younger, more credible face and voice of black America. So, in the end, they are no less pathetic than Imus. Maybe even more so? At least Imus can go to satellite radio. We all know where the Revs. can go.
No, Rev. Al and Rev. Jesse run the world, at least when there is a question of race (or at least an opening to inject race into it). In this little game of life, the final score, if you believe the Revs., was: Racial Justice 2, Don Imus 0 (or less than).
Leaving the First Amendment questions aside (and I always hate to do that), was what Imus said about the Rutgers women's basketball team worthy of all the furor and the media coverage? If you answered, "No!," you're a winner, regardless of race, creed, or color.
What the mere shadow of his former radio self said was stupid, despicable, insensitive, abusive, repugnant -- how many adjectives does it take here? But, besides missing the point that he should be free to say those words (so long as he is ready to take the heat for it) -- you know what they say about speech not truly being free unless it is available to everyone, even the people who disagree with us and/or offend us -- the whole business made Imus a scapegoat for a much larger problem in modern American society.
As Newsday columnist Shaun Powell pointed out: Where do you think Imus came up with the expression "nappy-headed hos"? Did he add it to his vocabulary in grade school, or maybe junior high?
Of course not, he got it from that segment of the American black community that does hip-hop music and rough standup comedy. And no one -- especially the Rev. Al and the Rev. Jesse -- said a word about firing the "musicians" or the comics.
No one said that about Rev. Jesse when he uttered his anti-Semitic remarks a few years ago, or about Rev. Al when he slandered a lot of white folks by weighing in (pun intended) on the Tawana Brawley case and the Duke lacrosse players case. Of course, I guess you can't suggest firing either of those self-appointed voices of the black community -- since Rev. Jesse's main job is being Rev. Jesse, and Rev. Al's main job is being Rev. Al (and showing off all his bling as a job on the side).
They both say their cases are "different" from Imus's. Just how so, they don't say. Because they're not. Offensive, racist, insensitive language is just that, whether spewed by Don Imus or a black preacher/rap artist/comedian.
And that is the real problem. Unfortunately, most of the media, including the black journalists who, as a group, condemned Imus and demanded his firing(s) weren't smart enough to recognize it. Fortunately, a few black journalists, the ones who see the hypocrisy and have the cajones to speak up, like Powell, Larry Elder, and Leonard Pitts, are breaking ranks and pointing their fingers in the directions they need to be (of course, so are the right-wing media flakes -- O'Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Coulter, ad nauseam -- but they have zero street creds on this one, since they've been as guilty as Rev. Jesse and Rev. Al in the past). The problem is broader and deeper than one white radio "personality" -- whose audience has been smaller than the Rutgers basketball team for years now -- desperately trying to get someone to laugh at him.
The Rev. Al and the Rev. Jesse are no different. As one of my astute colleagues has suggested, they seem to be just as desperate to get someone to take them seriously. They apparently recognize that they have become as antiquated and irrelevant as Imus, now that Barack Obama has emerged as the younger, more credible face and voice of black America. So, in the end, they are no less pathetic than Imus. Maybe even more so? At least Imus can go to satellite radio. We all know where the Revs. can go.
