Conflicted Over Don Imus Controversy

A work in progress

by j. brotherlove

I wanted to write some more about music but I’ve been distracted over the furor over Don Imus controversy. I was incensed by Michael Richards’ “he’s a nigger” rampage and pissed off by Isaiah Washington’s “fag” remarks. It would follow that I’d be outraged by Don Imus’ referring to the Rutgers female basketball players as “some nappy headed hos”. But I’m not.

Let me clarify: I think it was wrong for Imus to make the comments. But I’m not surprised or angry about how it went down or support him being fired. I know the Rutgers team is probably embarrassed and upset by the statement and all of the attention it has gotten. But I feel like the situation has been blown out of proportion.

Don Imus is an acerbic comic known for all sorts of off-color jokes. People listen to him (or not) because of it; that’s his show. His comment about Rutgers is a case of a comedian misjudging his audience and taking a joke too far.

In contrast, Richards clearly had some sort of meltdown, stepping out of the realm of comedy to spout deep hateful speech. And Washington meant for his remarks to hurt as well. Imus, on the other hand, thought he was making a joke and even used a Spike Lee movie (the wrong one) as context. The problem, of course, is that most people didn’t find it funny. Oh, and he’s a white man making fun of black women which is a no-no in a public space.

Speaking of a “white man making fun of black women”, I’m reminded of my opinion of Charles Knipp/Shirley Q Liquor. Knipp is a comedian making racial humor using blackface (which most people consider offensive). In addition, despite numerous protests Knipp’s only response is he’s doing it out of “love” for these women. Um, so why don’t they feel this love? Because Knipp is an insensitive asshole.

As for Imus, no doubt his comments were rude, insensitive and inappropriate. But racist? I don’t see malice in Imus’ makeup. He actually made a sensible apology and explained who he is, why he made those statements and why he was wrong for doing so. Yet people still want his head on a platter.

I share Imus point of view that he made “a stupid, idiotic mistake in a comedy context.” For that mistake, suspension is a just result. He’s even offered to meet with the team and their family to apologize personally. I think he’s handled the situation as best as anyone can. Al Shaprton claims “There’s no way the airwaves should be used to allow people to call people ‘nappy-headed hos.’” Obviously, he doesn’t listen to the radio.

The most troubling thing affecting my opinion on this issue is the fact that I’ve heard similar and worse from black radio from the djs to the playlists. Black djs make crude jokes about ugly people, fat people, white people… Don’t even get me on how lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender are treated on black radio. Where’s the outrage there?

Imus and staff were regurgitating what they hear everyday from us. That’s not racist; just stupid. I caution the black community against calling every non-black a racist just because they say something about us that we don’t like. Especially when we exhibit the same hateful behavior. If we want better, we have to do better. Or, as Jazmyne says:

As I continue to say, we can’t blame whites for calling us out of our names when we ourselves condone it with our hips and our chips.

Seriousness aside, my favorite comment about this is #15 at TV Squad:

I will admit I read his comments yesterday and heard them 1,000 times today and I have a question.

What the hell does nappy mean? From what I have looked up it seems to be something dealing with babies.

Priceless!

i think my issue is this continued conflations of (a) race, gender and morality — the ‘hos’ comment directed at a mostly black basketball team (not some skrippas at the club); and (b) black folks’ natural hair texture being used as a class/morality slur.

i think it’s a sad sign of internalized racism when we do it. it makes me cringe.

but i’m incensed when someone who is not black — and has no understanding of the associated baggage of words like “nappy headed” and “hos” — uses it.

that said, i don’t think firing would do much. some other network would pick him up in 6 months if he didn’t start a stream on the internet or go to satellite radio. but i do appreciate his (on time, and without arm-twisting) apology.

Some may have not know what “nappy’ meant, Imus did, just like he knew what a “ho” was/is. it still goes to show that black women are still at the rung on this society. Demeaning them for laughs, like that LiKKKer queen and the gay white men and RuPaul that have no respect for black women is typical and mock and do black faced reviews out of love and respect. Give me Don Imus over RuPaul and LiKKKer any day, they are even worse since they pretend not to see the hurt and anguish they cause.

And, then, there are those “rap” losers, they have done more to denigrate and make black women look like animals more than 400 years of oppression could ever do.

All that said, it goes to show, that too the majority of people in this country, you can be a star athlete at a ivy league school or Condo-lee-za Rice, accomplished Secretary of state, but, in the eyes of many, you are still just a “nappy headed ho.” And, sadly, this isn’t going to change anytime soon.

But, I do accept his apology, he seems sincere and has been beat dwon like he as a white man never thought he could be in a country where they are usally allowed to say or do what they please with little regard to the feelings of anyone else.

I think that honestly, everyone should mark down “I KNOW too little about the incident to have any opinion.” period. All the media reports, all the little clips that we’re seeing barely even discuss the issue. For pete’s sake. Whenever you can explain away any situation whatsoever that’s causing controversy with a 1minute, 30 seconds clip on Google/YouTube than you better understand that you’re not getting much of a ‘a good summary’ or anything the like.

But of course ignorance is bliss and plus, everybody must have been so mad at the Kramer case so EVERYONE thinks he or she has a monopoly on the facts so they just start mouthing off about how stupid imus was or how ridiculous the Revs are being and double standards and reverse racism and hate speech and ignorant blacks and bigoted whites and racism and discrimination and black crime rates and black voter turnout and so on and so on. It’s a huge melting pot of spectacular ideas that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS CASE!

ALL this 1minute, 30 seconds ’summary’clip does is show the great amount of resentment and anger held secretly in american attitudes towards one another–giving people a chance to really express their opinions instead of being kept quiet behind the chains of political correctness. IT’s a crucible of thought that can actually do us some good-gets things out in the open!

I live in Atlatna and there is a store hair salon not too far from me called, Oh My Nappy Hair.

Imus made a mistake but I’ve heard people say a lot more things. I don’t think he’s racist I just don’t think he knew how aweful his remarks truly were.

Love the blog dude!

Appreciate the post, we need as many black folks as we can weighing in on this considering how white people are really showing there ass on this subject.

I personally stand firm that while I don’t know Imus personally and don’t listen to his show, so I can’t call him a racist or speak to his character, I heard the remark and heard the context and that mess was out of line.

And while it is indeed time for us to police ourselves and get our music in line , that does NOT give someone else a free pass to make rude comments. Just because the other kids stole cookies doesn’t mean you get to steal cookies too.

No more cookies you bastards! Black women don’t deserve to be degraded by anyone, black men or white men. It’s time for EVERYONE to stop that mess.

Thanks Tony. I don’t consider nappy as an insult either.

Now that Imus has been fired I’ve been asked if my opinion has changed. It hasn’t.

The public should determine what’s on (free) public radio. That said, before we start pop locking in the streets I’d really like the African American community to address black radio and hip hop in a serious manner.

Otherwise, statements by Sharpton and Jackson like: “No one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation” sound ridiculous and hypocritical.

If everybody who utters “nappy headed ho” on the radio can get fired, what does that really say about what we, as black folk, listen to on our radio stations?

I agree Jay that our bad habits don’t give everyone a pass to be sexist or racist.

But a lot of people are using the difference as an excuse to not do our own work. Same medium (radio), same message (women are disposable sexual objects).

j. brotherlove: Your post here is one of the most sensible (perhaps THE most sensible) commentary I have read about this whole mess. Thanks for writing it.

Like you I feel both ways about this thing. The comments Imus made were (are) racist, sexist and completely “way over the line” as far as an attempt at humor is concerned (or any other reason for that matter). That’s his shtick as a “shock jock” talk show host, living on the edge of humor and insult. This time he took it too far and got burned. However, I do not believe that Don Imus, the person, is a racist, sexist or a bigot as many have been saying this past week. His comments are, the man is not (IMHO). Now I will admit that I do not know him personally, but I will go on record as saying that I like the ‘Imus In The Morning’ show, having listened to it for years growing up in North Jersey. That gives me the context for what I am saying here. And as a Black man growing up in this country (with daughters I’ll mention) and who went to college in Boston during the 70’s (we used to call it the Birmingham of the North) I have some experience (as most of us do) with racist attitudes.

Now that the axe has fallen on Imus there’s a greater question here that should be considered: “Have we won a battle, yet gotten no closer to winning the war?”

My first reaction when hearing the news of his firing last night was that a great opportunity has just been missed to begin a constructive and productive dialog about sexism and race relations in America, that would lead to some real change. My opinion (observing it from afar, as we ALL are) was that his apology was sincere and that after the two weeks of being off the air he would have been moved to help the healing process through his “pulpit” of a nationally syndicated radio show and not go back to business as usual. Now he’s gone, the opportunity is lost, many in our AA community are spitting on the Imus grave and dancing in victory… and Blacks and Whites in this country are more polarized over the race issue than we were before this ever happened.

This is progress?

Let’s hope that all of the huffing and puffing and grandstanding before the television cameras that a lot of people did (both Black and White) turns into a sincere movement for change and improvement in this country and doesn’t end up being just their self serving 15 minutes of fame.

I just hope we can get to the point where some individual comment doesn’t bring the whole damn country into a stereotype war - we have to understand race is nothing - When a white kid grows up in a certain neighborhood, he will act a certain way. When a black kid grows up in a certain neighborhood, he will act a certain way. But we forget that, and instead just look at the skin color. Both sides have stereotypes and racism, but it won’t stop until both sides just refuse to do it. I know it sounds ridiculous, but just as violence breeds violence, so does racism breed racism - A vicious cycle - And as a previous commenter said, doesn’t it seem that this whole incident just inflamed everything a bit more?

Good points and I agree 100%. It’s funny that this thing’s about everything but the event. One side is crying about Sharpton and Jackson’s mistakes. The other is all about past insults. The question that’s buried in all of this is how do we fix all the ills? How do we close the divide in this nation? Maybe I missed the point, but isn’t that what the civil rights movement is supposed to be about? Everything that has come out of this is negative. The girls probably wouldn’t have even known about this if it wasn’t plastered all over the media. Whites and blacks are getting angry with each other for no good reason. Who won? What was gained?

I think the suspension and MSNBC taking away his tv simulcast was more than enough punishment. But I guess mainstream media wants to wash their hands of Imus.

Now that he’s been fired, it sets up this weird double standard when compared to Washington’s relatively light punishment. I think both of them should have been suspended or both of them should have gone to ‘rehab’. I can’t watch Grey’s Anatomy anymore with him on it, even though I love Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh and Sara Ramirez. It sends the message that in the Black community, race trumps sexuality or gender (most of the people calling for Imus’ head were Black male ‘leaders’ like Sharpton and Jackson). Many people, like me, do not subscribe to that idea.

Thank you for this eloquent essay/blog on the subject… the shame of it is that the world sees Jesse Jackson and Al Sharton as the face of the black community because their voices are the loudest. They and people like Keith Olberman and the news media at large have, and will continue to cause more derision then Imus ever will.

I must be the odd one still, don’t think he should have been fired since he did apologize for his racist rant. And, if not for Rev Al, who I don’t always agree with, just who would have spoke up for these young women who were slurred?

And, I must also be the odd one since “Gray’s Anatomy’ has been mentioned and that whole debacle, never seen the show, and while I don’t agree with IW’s slur, its not the same case as the Rutgers’ slur. And, go to any gay message board that’s mainly white and you will find the same ones who wanted IW’s head on a platter, are the same ones who say Imus should be allowed his “freedom” of speech, sorry, uncouth behavior is wrong, be it from a black man or a white one, too bad the gay community seems to only find it offensive when its against them.

And, sorry to the black gay activist who are still steaming over he IW thing, black first, when I walk into a room, the first thing anyone see’s is a black man, since I don’t wear my sexuality on my sleeve. And, race will always be the incendiary to start hate speech, since many still think of blacks as the lowest of the low of the human race.

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