Imus really isn't the bad guy.
Jason Whitlock, sports writer for the Kansa City Star, wrote a piese on the biggest racist story since Michael Richards went on his tirade in a comedy club.
Read the story here, then read on through my post.
Oddly enough, I caught the whole scene on the Imus show that morning. I usually flip atound between news stations all day, and happened to catch it. My first thought was "Oooh, that's not a nice thing to say." But my comment wasn't about the nappy-headed hos remark, rather about the jiggaboo staement made by Imus' producer.
Now, I'm not saying that Imus was correct in using those words, because apparently they carry some racist tones. Personally, I never had thought of "Nappy-haired" being used negatively towards blacks. I thought that it meant dirty, which still isn't nice, but it went along with his previous comment about the players being "tough looking". It wasn't until after the whole deal blew up that I learned that it was directed at black hair. Then, as I started learning more about it through the internet, I learned about a number of uses for "nappy hair" in positive ways. From childrens' books to hair salons to cancer foundations, all use the term.
It wasn't until later that I started to get pissed about this situation. Many leaders in the black community stood up calling Imus a racist and demanded his firing. Well, it did happen, but not in the way they wanted. After advertisers started pulling out of the show, CBS decided to terminate Don's contract. Money talks.
So, my main point is that Don isn't the bad guy. How many of the Rutgers' girls went home that weekend and popped in the latest Ludacris album? How many of them saw Carlos Mencia or Dave Chappelle on TV and laughed at their racial humor? One of the women was quoted as saying the whole incident has "scarred her for life." The real tragedy to the team occurred when they bought in to the victim role instead of trying to turn it into a positive chance for the team. The real villains here are not those who spew the hate, but those who take the opportunity to gain more than they deserve from the incident. Al Sharpton, I'm looking at you...
Read the story here, then read on through my post.
Oddly enough, I caught the whole scene on the Imus show that morning. I usually flip atound between news stations all day, and happened to catch it. My first thought was "Oooh, that's not a nice thing to say." But my comment wasn't about the nappy-headed hos remark, rather about the jiggaboo staement made by Imus' producer.
Now, I'm not saying that Imus was correct in using those words, because apparently they carry some racist tones. Personally, I never had thought of "Nappy-haired" being used negatively towards blacks. I thought that it meant dirty, which still isn't nice, but it went along with his previous comment about the players being "tough looking". It wasn't until after the whole deal blew up that I learned that it was directed at black hair. Then, as I started learning more about it through the internet, I learned about a number of uses for "nappy hair" in positive ways. From childrens' books to hair salons to cancer foundations, all use the term.
It wasn't until later that I started to get pissed about this situation. Many leaders in the black community stood up calling Imus a racist and demanded his firing. Well, it did happen, but not in the way they wanted. After advertisers started pulling out of the show, CBS decided to terminate Don's contract. Money talks.
So, my main point is that Don isn't the bad guy. How many of the Rutgers' girls went home that weekend and popped in the latest Ludacris album? How many of them saw Carlos Mencia or Dave Chappelle on TV and laughed at their racial humor? One of the women was quoted as saying the whole incident has "scarred her for life." The real tragedy to the team occurred when they bought in to the victim role instead of trying to turn it into a positive chance for the team. The real villains here are not those who spew the hate, but those who take the opportunity to gain more than they deserve from the incident. Al Sharpton, I'm looking at you...
posted by monkeybrigade at 5:46 AM
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