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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Forgiving Don Imus


Nappy-headed hos. Don Imus is under fire for calling the Rutgers University women’s basketball team just that.

Why?

Underlying in Imus’ observation was the humor of how hard-core girls lost a basketball game to a team of dainty pretty girls. One would think the team who looked tougher would surely beat the team who had pretty done-up hair, and appeared to care more about their makeup than about a good defense, regardless of the sport or the race of the players. Callers to my show on April 8, 2007 were trying to argue that these hard-working students, who were going to college, shouldn’t be called tough. However, it’s entirely possible, and I would argue desirable, to be tough and smart at the same time.

Nevertheless, I still don’t feel Imus’ comment is inherently racist. I know plenty of people with nappy hair and most of them are not black. I didn’t, nor do I now, associate that term as a derogatory term reserved strictly for African-Americans.

Hos

“Ho” is street slang, a truncation of whore. This slang term certainly is one that has its origins in African-American culture, but it is also a term that has been adopted by everyone else. I use this term all the time, not just to talk about hookers, and certainly not just to talk exclusively about blacks. I have even called by male friends who sleep around hos.

Those are my connotations, yours may be different and you may disagree-fine. That’s your prerogative.

The Double Standard

Cedric The Entertainer is an African-American comedian known for incorporating sporting events into his comedy. If he would have been a guest on any show anywhere and referred to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as nappy-headed hos, would he have been lambasted in the media? Of course not, and I’m willing to bet it would have been thought of as funny.

The fact that Al Sharpton and Reverend Jessie Jackson are in outrage mode about this makes me believe this is even more of a non-event than I had originally thought. After all, these two are typified by their demagoguery and racism against whites. Despite Reverend Jackson’s 1984 comments referring to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown" during a conversation with Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman, he is apparently willing to forgive himself, but not others. Instead, he would have them grovel and beg for forgiveness on his radio show, and then ultimately call for them to be fired anyway, as is the case with Don Imus.

Everyone knows that African-Americans use the “n” word freely and without repercussions, whereas white people can’t use the word. I understand and agree with this somewhat. But, are we being told now that any language that came from the African-American culture is off limits now for use by anyone else? If you look at the larger picture, I believe the use of language from different cultures is a positive sign of racial integration.

Disputing allegations of hypocrisy

The reason that I didn’t support what Ann Coulter said about John Edwards, calling him a “faggot” was due completely to the setting. I made it perfectly clear that as a gay guy, it wasn’t the word that offended me. Coulter was addressing a bunch of students to talk about presidential candidates. It was certainly no morning radio talk show.

The bottom line

If African-Americans aren’t willing to have a conversation about these types of situations without calling anyone who disagrees with their viewpoint a racist, then race relations will never get anywhere. A wise man once said the fact black people can say certain things and white people can’t is just a reality of the world. I believe that as well, however there’s nothing to stand in the way of change. If people just accepted current situations as an inevitable and unchangeable reality, then slaves would still be around, and blacks would still be drinking from separate fountains, and sitting in the back of the bus.

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