Now you know that I couldn’t resist. There’s no way that I could go off on poor little Kramer (Michael what’s his face), and not talk about the old misunderstood radio icon Don I-MUS (be a racist). There’s been so much coverage, that I’d be negligent to not mention and give you a chance to give your opinions on the topic.
To recap for those of you that may not have heard the dialogue on every radio and television station around the globe…the “ON-AIR conversation included Don Imus, WFAN show host Sid Rosenberg, Producer Bernard McGirk and show regular Charles McCord. They were talking about the NCAA Women’s Basketball finals between Rutgers and Tennessee.
So, I watched the basketball game last night between — a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women’s final.
Rosenberg:
Yeah, Tennessee won last night — seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.
That’s some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and —
Some hard-core hos.
That’s some nappy-headed hos there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some — woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like — kinda like — I don’t know.
A Spike Lee thing.
Yeah.
The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabes — that movie that he had.
Yeah, it was a tough —
Charles McCord:
Do The Right Thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Where do I begin? Raise your hand if you are tired of watching and hearing women in general and black women in particular being ridiculed and degraded? The way I see it, it’s wrong no matter who does it, rappers, directors, radio personalities, whoever. Wrong is wrong. I’m tired of hearing grown folks point fingers and say things like, “well, they said it first” and “how come they can say it and we can’t say it”?
Do you think that these images and stereotypes have anything to do with how men view women? How they treat women in the dating world? What about how young girls see themselves and choose to carry themselves and based on that, how they allow men to treat them? I mean really, if you see enough images of women half naked, being passed around like meat, you may not do it personally, but, at some point it becomes an acceptable form of behavior. Our young girls start to think things like, “It they can do it why can’t I”? “Maybe that’s why I don’t have a man?” “Oh, that’s what men want”?
I believe in freedom of speech. However, with all rights come certain responsibilities. Any fool with a mouth and tongue can exercise their right to free speech. With no regard to whom they may harm. Words have power and they can hurt. They can also leave emotional scars. I don’t really care who’s talking, singing or joking about “nappy headed hoes” it’s never acceptable or funny to “me”.
I feel the need to clarify because I am aware that there are entertainers that have built their careers on “degrading women” under the guise of “keeping it real”. And to that I say “do what you do”. If people want to pay their hard earned money to hear you “keep it real” feel free…in an arena specifically set up for that purpose.
What I don’t appreciate are people that talk first and think later. People that are in influential positions and they use that power to give out hurtful, inaccurate and sometimes hateful information. They put it in a glass and serve it up as entertainment. Because it’s not properly labeled, anyone can walk up to that glass see its contents, take a sip and pass it on without regard or the ability to decipher news from entertainment, or reality from reality radio/television. And the public hears it whether they want to or not.
I consider myself to be very open-mined and not easily offended. I don’t claim to have all the answers or solutions. I do think that we all have a responsibility to raise society’s children and our consciousness to a level that is higher than it’s been, not as low as it can go. There is a time and place for everything. Not everything is for everyone. This being said, we must all take responsibility for our words and actions and hold others accountable for theirs too. If you have children or not, it’s up to us all to make sure that they are protected from negative images that can have long term effects on their spirit and sense of what’s acceptable behavior and language.
We are all connected. That young girl that’s being called a whore today could be your future wife, your daughter or the girl your son falls in love with.
Maybe the easiest way to control the situation is to ask the question…”Would I say that to my child, my mother? “Would I date or marry someone who thought that about themselves?” I doubt very seriously, that even if Don Imus’s child was a “nappy headed ho”, he would say so to her face, let alone on national radio and television. So, why say it about someone else’s daughter?
But then again, that’s entertainment?! One more thing for the record, the Spike Lee movie was not “Do the Right Thing.” But who cares if you’re accurate as long as you’re entertaining, right?
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has he have a rep for this type of action??
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What was said reflects on all women regardless of race.
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I found so many comments interesting. Firs, I spent 15 years of my life defending the right of American to speak freely, regardless of whether I agreed or not. BUT, NOT on the public airways. I also came home to see the same old racism, espcially between both blacks and whites. I have never particularly liked IMUS per sonally, so I just change the station – that’s more effective if all people would do that, too, in the first place. I didn’t serve this country to support racism and despise it.
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Maybe it’s not just about race. Isaiah Washington just lost his job on Grey’s Anatomy for making derogatory comments about gays. Maybe people are just fed up with all the bigotry and hate – no matter where it comes from.
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Yes it was wrong. BUT… he who is with out sin cast the first racial slur. the press caught it and it got attention so the press went to extremes and that is part of the reason a bad decision by this guy to open his mouth thoughtlessly just to fill air time, cause he really has nothing important to say, got blown up to more than what attention it should have got, I’ve never heard of him till then. he is an idiot and now he is famous for being an idiot, wish the press & society would look for more good in life and don’t give the idiots all the attention
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jimmy the greek got fired from abc, for making racist comments about black athletes.
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they are making an example of him, and i bet there will be more to follow
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how ironic that the totality of public outrage is focused on the cornerstone of the constitution, that being freedom of speech. so you claim its a horror of catastrophic proportions that people call women ‘whores’ and otherwise degrade them because they will be a wife or a mother etc., but where is the public-black and white–outrage of the society that teaches and encourages women to become whores? if only sharpton et al focused their hypocritical energies on the real problem-paris, brittany, music scene, porn, strip clubs etc which MAKE whores, perhaps the realization would arise that some women choose to be whores, and they were whores before being called that. and if someone calling a woman that affects her self esteem well then this will be a very tough life for her.
media degradation of women has nothing to do with the constitution, and yet i hear no call for a boycott of the filth that is todays xrated culture, but some people simply wish to make themselves the arbiters of what can and cannot be said in public. well HYPOCRITES every last one of you! many people died to allow us freedom of speech, they DID NOT die so that braindead strumpets could get drunk out of their gourd and pass out in public only to be emulated by the equally oversexed, and underparented preteen consumer. this persecution was a farce.
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I am hoping the guy will just go away…
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the sad part is, he wont coco.
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Is it just me or does Chuck seem to be a little on the angry side?
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well i hope he does.
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I know Sweetnes20, but a girl can dream can’t she? He’ll probably get his job back.
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sure you can dream girl, but lets not dream of him…..lol.
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now, people will always judge him.
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bum, bum, bum. if somebody hires him, they would be stupid.
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Whats Chuck Norris doing on Afro? He’s a tough guy ya know. He uses a live rattlesnake as a condom. There is no chin under Chuck Norris’ beard, only another fist,
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Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep, he waits
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Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.
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When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris
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Moss, maybe Chuck Norris checks under his toupee for the Boogeyman…LOL!
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chuk norris give us always action,, he was always a racist.
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U are too funny Coco!!
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i cant believe we are still talking about this guy.
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Sweetnes, girl we aren’t talking about him anymore
We’re joking about Mossimo and Chuck Norris 
We’ve gotten over old what’s his name…
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Chuck Norris was sanctioned under the UN peace treaty as being a weapon of mass destruction
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Chuck Norris has had thousands of lovers, but none of them ever satisfied Chuck Norris. He realized that the only person who could ever satisfy Chuck Norris…was Chuck Norris.
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Biologically, Chuck Norris is his own step-father.
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Race card was pulled on Imus just for press. He is not a racist just because he used words used by many others. Why censor him? Because he is white, no other reason. That would make YOU the racist if you thought that was right. If you don’t like the word he used, ban it from the speech of everyone, not JUST white people. Garbage like this just makes black people look like the real racists in current times.
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To me the saddest part of the whole circus was “The Reverend” Al Sharpton,who has made a living by being a prefessional race baiter (and hater) deciding Imus’ future.What Imus did was satire and in poor taste .What happened to him heralds the day when PC will run amuck and rule the land. I agree with the author to an extent.If we start banning lyrics it’s only a slippery slope until we start banning books.What’s next,the thought police? It all starts with the erosion of our moral fabric and lax(single) parenting.There is no one solution,but firing Don Imus certainly wasnt it.If he was fired,so too should they fire “The Reverand” Al,who profits daily from playing the race card.He and his buddy,Jesse “I’ve got my pregnant 30 year younger girlfriend waiting for me at the WhiteHouse while I counsel the President on marital infidelity”Jackson. How anyone listens to these 2 is appalling.These 2,along with the late Johnny Cochran,(Rodney King,Michael Jackson 1 and of course the innocent OJ) have almost single-handedly set race relations back to the early 60′s and gotten rich and famous doing it.America needs to wake up and Black Americans need to find some worthy role models.
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