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Just Clicking

I'm tired of the racism and bigotry going on here.

I don't care how many charities you may have belonged to, that doesn't hide that you are racist.

Imus is a racist (Several comments about Muslims in which he called them "Ragheads" as well as this Rutger's thing and a few others...). He's the same as Mel Gibson and Michael Richards if you ask me. I'm glad he was fired. If any of us had said what he did we would have been fired. He made his bed, time for him to sleep in it.

It's more than just Imus
April 12, 2007

Shaun Powell
SPORTS COLUMNIST

In retrospect, outraged people shouldn't have united and screamed "blank you" to Don Imus the last few days. No, instead, we should've stuck out our hand and said, "Thank you."

We should feel indebted to a shriveled, unfunny, insensitive frog for being so ignorant that he actually did us all a favor. He woke society the hell up. He grabbed it by the throat, shook hard and ordered us to take a long, critical look at ourselves and the mess we've made and ignored for much too long. He made us examine the culture and the characters we've created for ourselves, our impressionable young people and our future.

Had Imus not called a bunch of proud and innocent young women "nappy-headed hos," would we be as ashamed of what we see as we are today?

Or, to quote Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer: "Have we really lost our moral fiber?"

And our minds as well?

I'm not sure if the last few days will serve as a watershed moment for this MTV, middle-finger, screw-you generation. Probably not, according to my hunch. A short time from now, the hysteria will turn to vapor, folks will settle back into their routines, somebody will pump up the volume on the latest poison produced by hip-hop while Al Sharpton and the other racial ambulance chasers will find other guilt-ridden white folks to shake for fame and cash. In five minutes, the entire episode of Imus and his strange idea of humor will be older than his hairstyle. Lessons learned will be lessons forgotten.

I wish I were wrong about that last part. But I doubt it, because any minute now, black people will resume calling themselves bitches and hos and the N-word and in the ultimate sign of hypocrisy, neither Rutgers nor anyone else will call a news conference about that.

Because when we really get to the root of the problem, this isn't about Imus. This is about a culture we -- meaning black folks -- created and condoned and packaged for white power brokers to sell and shock jocks like Imus to exploit. Can we talk?

Tell me: Where did an old white guy like Imus learn the word "ho"?

Was that always part of his vocabulary? Or did he borrow it from Jay-Z and Dave Chappelle and Snoop Dogg?

What really disappointed me about that exhausting Rutgers news conference, which was slyly used as a recruiting pitch by Stringer, was the absence of the truth and the lack of backbone and courage. Black women had the perfect opportunity to lash out at their most dangerous oppressors -- black men -- and yet they kept the focus on a white guy.

It was a tremendous letdown for me, personally and professionally. I wanted Stringer, and especially her players, many of whom listen to rap and hip-hop, to take Nelly to task. Or BET. Or MTV. Or the gangsta culture that is suffocating our kids. They had the ear and eye of the nation trained upon them, and yet these women didn't get to the point and the root of the matter. They danced around it, and I guess I should've known better, because black people still refuse to lash out against those black people who are doing harm to us all.

Honestly, I wasn't holding my breath for Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, a pair of phony and self-appointed leaders, because they have their agendas and financial stakes. I was hoping 10 young women, who have nothing on the line, who are members of a young culture, would train their attention to within the race, name names and say enough is enough. But they didn't, and I was crushed.

You should walk around the playground and the elementary and high schools today and listen to how young black people speak to each other, treat each other and tease each other. You'd be ashamed. Next, sample some of their CDs and look at the video games they're playing. And while you're at it, blame yourself for funding this garbage, for allowing your kids to support these companies and for not taking a stand against it or the so-called artists making it happen.

Black folks, for whatever reason, can be their own worst enemy. The last several days, the media had us believe it was Don Imus. But deep down, we know better.

http://www.newsday.com/ny-sppow125168074apr12,0,4959558.column?coll=ny-homepage-mezz

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This is a great article...racism DOES still exist in this country...blacks are NOT on a level playing field...but black culture needs to take a look in the mirror as well. I understand the disadvantages and the late start...but they're not exactly helping their cause.

He's no more or no less of a racist that Sharpton and Jackson Charlie. That's the sad part in all of this.............

America's Pimp 'n' Ho Culture Gets Real

In my eyes I done seen some crazy thangs in the streets Gotta couple hos workin' on the changes for me ...

-- Lyrics from ``It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp,'' 2006 winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Song, by Al Kapone for ``Hustle and Flow.''

WASHINGTON -- The air is so thick with irony and hypocrisy these days, it's hard to find oxygen to breathe.

On the same day that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper declared the three white Duke University lacrosse team players innocent of the alleged rape of an African-American stripper, MSNBC canceled its simulcast of the Don Imus radio show for a racial slur against the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Two athletic teams -- one mostly white male, one mostly black female. Two examples of race and gender colliding. One rogue prosecutor; one rude shock jock.

Obviously, there's no comparison between the two cases in terms of consequences. While the Rutgers gals suffered hurt feelings, Imus lost his television gig and his radio show, the three Duke men potentially faced 30 years in prison and District Attorney Mike Nifong faces ethics charges.

But the two episodes do share the complicating and distorting factors of race, sex and politics.

And of course, they both share the opportunistic involvement of those two rogue race-baiting reverends, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Both not only came to the aid of the Rutgers basketball team, but grabbed the microphones before the accused Duke players had their day in court.

In Imus' case, neither was willing to accept the radio host's apology for his unfunny racist remark aimed at the basketball players and both worked, successfully, to get him off television airwaves.

In the Duke case, we will succumb to suffocation, I suspect, if we hold our breath waiting for Sharpton and Jackson to apologize for feeding the racist frenzy that condemned those three young men whose lives were nearly ruined by innuendo, lies, an out-of-control prosecutor and a complicit media.

We will also collapse onto the fainting couch waiting for an apology from Duke's ``Group of 88'' -- the coalition of arts and science faculty who took out a full-page ad in the Duke newspaper commending students who demonstrated and distributed a ``wanted'' poster of the lacrosse team. The 88 also promised to ``turn up the volume'' on the administration in dealing with the crimes of these ``farm animals,'' as English and Afro-American Studies professor Houston Baker described the lacrosse players in an e-mail to the mother of a team member.

Duke President Richard Brodhead, meanwhile, suspended the accused, accepted the resignation of lacrosse coach Mike Pressler and canceled the rest of the 2006 lacrosse season. It was not a pretty day for due process.

But the man behind the curtain orchestrating this travesty of justice was Nifong. In the rap vernacular that brought down Imus, he pimped the accuser, using an apparently troubled young woman for his own political gain in his re-election bid, instead of sending her home where she belonged.

Despite the obvious double standard among those who purport to work for racial harmony, the convergence of these two events may be the tipping point in our national debate about race, sex and speech. Let's do cut close to the bone, but, lest we become enamored of our virtue, we should acknowledge a couple of facts:

First, despite protestations to the contrary, it's hard to believe NBC and CBS dropped Imus only because of his remarks. The two networks fired him, at least in part, because the show's advertisers pulled out. Does anyone really doubt that Imus would be on air today if the cash were still flowing?

Second, Duke administrators and trustees, who are now demanding a complete investigation into Nifong's behavior, are a year late and a conscience short. With notable exceptions, administrators and faculty behaved abominably and should be considering an investigation into their own hearts. What a contrast to the support Rutgers University gave its students.

Those who have performed most honorably throughout this disgraceful season of sexual spin and racial one-upmanship are the athletes from both teams. Mature and dignified during their respective news conferences, they've put the grown-ups to shame and offer reason to hope that the rising generation of young Americans will put this corrupt house in order.

Meanwhile, as Attorney General Cooper said: ``A lot of people owe a lot of apologies to a lot of people.''

Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group.

Actually, the sad part in all this is the girls that were insulted. No one has been defending Jackson, Sharpton, or hip hop artists. Thankfully, the system in America works. All those spouting about free speech are really hilarious. Those rappers aren't on public airwaves unless their songs are edited. Just because they are doing something wrong doesn't excuse Imus. The great thing is that the advertisors spoke. They pulled their backing of Imus and his show, as is THEIR right and Imus became a financial liability giving the companies just cause to terminate him. I love when the system works.

Yeah, ask the Duke lacrosse players how well the "system" worked. When I see Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton apologize for raking those guys over the coals last year then I might believe they actually care about righting injustice. Until then they're just a couple of publicity seeking race-baiters.

And don't kid yourself. Imus will be back on the air within 6 months. My guess would be XM or Sirius. His dismissal had nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with morality. It was all profit driven. Yeah, that's how I want my "system" to work.......LOL

Jesse offered the black "victim" in the Duke lacrosse case full tuition because he felt so bad about what those mean nasty white boys did to her... maybe now he can take that money and give it to the legal defense fund of the boys wrongfully accused... yea, I'll be sitting here holding my breath waiting for THAT to happen.

I wasn't referring to the legal system, Otto. I'm talking about Capitalism. Imus offended people, the sponsors backed out, he was costing the station money, he got canned. That's what I'm talking about, the free market system.

I said at the beginning of the thread that I despise Sharpton and Jackson. They are money grubbing racists themselves. One has nothing to do with the other, though.

As for the Duke players, I've been defending them since their arrests.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/13/martin.imus/index.html

Commentary: Imus might be spark for debate on sexism
POSTED: 3:08 p.m. EDT, April 13, 2007
By Roland S. Martin

(CNN) -- No one would have thought that when Rosa Parks opted not to give up her seat to a white man in 1955, a dozen years later blacks would have the full right to vote, the ability to eat in hotels and restaurants and see Jim Crow destroyed.

We might look back in a few years and come to realize that the removal of Don Imus from the public airwaves put America on a course that changed the dialogue on what is acceptable to say in public forums.

The downfall of a long, successful and controversial career, on the surface, took eight days. But for Imus, this has actually been 30 years in the making. He has used his sexual and racial schtick to pad his pocketbook. Only this time, he ran up against a group of women who presented such a compelling story, his bosses couldn't ignore the reality of his sexist and racist rant.

Although the National Association of Black Journalists led the fight to oust Imus, there is no doubt that it was that moving news conference by the Rutgers University women's basketball team that cemented the demise of Imus. Vivian Stringer was poised and strong in demanding that America look at the 10 women and see them as the real face of Imus's slurs.

And that is really the issue we must focus on. So many people tried to make this a race issue. But for me, that wasn't the primary point. I never wavered from the attack as one of a sexist. It didn't matter that he was trying to be funny. He insulted a group of women who are already accomplished.

Then again, that happens to women every day.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat, is smart and talented, but to many, she's nothing but an opportunist. She's called too aggressive, not cute and is slammed regularly. But she should be praised for being a woman who has achieved a lot in her career.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is portrayed as a bumbling idiot, but her academic credentials are impeccable. You can disagree with her ideology, but to question her womanhood is silly.

Women all across this country have to play by a different standard. They often make less than men, even when doing the same job; are accused of being too tough when they are the boss; and are treated as sexual objects.

America, we have a problem with sexism. Don't try to make this whole matter about the ridiculous rants made by rappers. I deplore what's in a lot of their music and videos, but hip-hop is only 30 years old. So you mean to tell me that sexism in America only started in 1977?

Now is the time for this nation to undergo a direct examination of the depths of sexism. My media colleagues shouldn't go just for the easy target ­ rap lyrics. That is no doubt a logical next step, but sexism is so much deeper. It is embedded in our churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, Fortune 500 companies and in the political arena. We should target our resources to this issue and raise the consciousness of people, and expose the reality.

Don Imus should not be the period. He can be the comma. Civil rights organizations, media entities, women's groups and others have an opportunity that they can't pass up. We have the chance to seize the moment to begin a conversation ­-- an in-depth one ­-- that has the opportunity to redefine America along the lines of race and sex.

I hope and pray that we have the courage to do so.

That's what I'm talking about, the free market system.

I understood that is what you meant. My point was that if someone was going to get fired for that remark then it should have been a morality based decision. Not a monetarily based decision. It was all money (greed) based. A bad way to conduct public policy, IMO. But that is what corporations are all about. I don't blame them for that. I just think that CBS and MSNBC hiding behind the veil of morality when it was all dollar-driven is the height of hypocrisy. And slightly stomach turning to watch.

And what is even worse is what clowns Civil Rights leaders like Jesse Jackson have become. 30-40 years ago men like him showed real courage and integrity. Now they are just caricatures of their former selves. Sad.

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Not that this matters but I don't see the mistreatment, I'm in my late thirties have an excellent resume, but that doesn't matter, affirmative action made ME the minority. It is quite sickening that this nonsense from both ends (Even though Imus was joking) still exists. Fact is a white male is the minority in the workplace nowadays, even when work ethic is involved.

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and seriously how many slaves would have volunteered if they new what to expect

IMO...Great resume? I have a feeling not. Or maybe so but looking good on paper, does not mean that you are either good at your job or a person others enjoying getting along with. As your inability to understand where others are coming from speaks to close mindedness,...next time you are passed over for a job dont look outwards try looking inwards...and also did you join DT just to comment on this one issue or are you another used too ashamed to use your handle.