Excuse me. I said a stupid thing. But I’m really really a good person. Aren’t we essentially a Christian culture? Don’t we believe in forgiveness? Wasn’t it Abraham Lincoln who called us to observe the better angels of our nature? Shouldn’t we forgive Don Imus for his remarks concerning the Rutgers Womens’ basketball team?
I don’t think we should forgive Don Imus or anyone else who makes money by ridiculing people who remain socially marginalized in American culture. I don’t think we should forgive Rush Limbaugh for his hateful remarks about Michael J. Fox. I don’t think we should forgive Bill O’Reilly or Michael Savage for their loathsome and vicious remarks about Americans who have opposed the war in Iraq. The hate speech in this country is ubiquitous and ugly and out of control.
Don Imus’s comments concerning the women basketball players at Rutgers are in my view "hate speech" because they spill over into a categorical bell curve of aesthetic acceptability. Imus argued that the women of Rutgers were "nappy headed ho’s" but then took the next necessary turn toward full blown racism by placing the appearance of the Rutgers players alongside the "cute" women of Tennessee. This is a comparative and associative gesture that fully represents the architecture of racism. That Imus’s executive producer Bernard whatever his name is chimed in with the word "jigaboo" is merely the icing on the cake.
Don Imus may be a good man who said a stupid thing. But he said a really really stupid thing. He engaged in hate speech.
Some white people will say, "well black people talk about themselves this way, so isn’t there a double standard?"
You betcha.
When black people are making equal salaries; when their children are not incarcerated in higher percentages than white children; when we are truly equal in our society, then yes, everything will be merely a question of comedy or rhetoric.
In the meantime there are real lives in the balance.
Don Imus should devote himself to his ranch for kids with cancer. He should take a course in cultural diversity at Rutgers.
S.K.
See the video response from the Rutger’s team at Shakesville and this thoughtful Your Daughter and Imus post at Blogher.
Planet of the Blind 
“When black people are making equal salaries; when their children are not incarcerated in higher percentages than white children…”
And women. Everyone seems to want to forget – this was very distinctly hate speech directed towards black *women*.
I think you know that; however, the sexism in this is getting lost in the shuffle so much that it bears mentioning just as much and just as often as the racism. It doesn’t need to be an either/or.
When we are truly equal in society and black people and women are considered the equals of white people and men – and when women can enter the public sphere without having sexually charged insults hurled at them (if they’re lucky enough to not be getting sexually charged death threats; either way the public will at most tsk tsk at that, too) – then this will all be idle rhetoric.
In the meantime, as you say, our choices of what to say and not say do matter.
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The problem with Imus is he really isn’t a good person. He has a history of this kind of speech. And those who are challenging him have their own issues. We are all flawed, but we have the right to free speech and the right protects unpalatable speech like Imus’.
I read an interesting post that took not only Imus to task, but Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as well. I’m not sure if you ‘ll like it but here is the link
http://joeleonardi.wordpress.com/2007/04/11/don-imus-is-a-jerk-whats-new/
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