Matt
April 10, 2007 04:09 PM
The comments made by Don Imus were in terrible taste.
Bianca Adams, DC
April 10, 2007 04:13 PM
I commend the Rutgers team on their commentary today. Their response and leadership on campus, on the court and on this issue will not be over looked. Thank you CBC for speaking up on this issue.
Penny Hill
April 10, 2007 04:23 PM
I want to echo Matt's comments. The Rutgers team illustrated the complete opposite of Mr. Imus's remarks. Good show Coach Stringer your students are great basketball players and articulate students athletes.
Kelly
April 10, 2007 05:02 PM
It is great to see such poised young ladies stand up for not only themselves but women and minorities in general.
Roshan Hodge
April 10, 2007 05:05 PM
The request that Don Imus step down is a just and fitting one, but we should use this opportunity to go one step further, acknowledge the proverbial elephant in the room and re-open the dialogue on race relations instead of pretending that it doesn’t exist. If the leaders of this nation are afraid to tackle this tough issue, what hope do future generations have to live in harmony?
MSNBC and CBS should remove Don Imus from the airwaves, require diversity training for their employees and replace the programming with a voice that speaks to concerns of diversity. We have to stand for more than shock entertainment.
Shawn
April 10, 2007 05:09 PM
I couldn't agree more.
Perhaps a show with more then just the "mainstream" prespective that will allow an open and honest dialog.
Opio
April 10, 2007 05:20 PM
Turn Off Channel Zero
From Ancient Queens to Current Queens... Todays Black Women
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX0WsNX5vFs
Aaron
April 10, 2007 05:38 PM
Thank you Chairwoman Kilpatrick! I agree that the greater issue is governments responsibility in regulating this type of nonchalant inflammatory and degrading language. Free speech should be protected but legal remedies for inflammatory, degrading or slanderous remarks that put the livelihood of its recipient in any kind of jeopardy that is unprovoked should be protected also. Janet Jackson showed an almost bare breast and because we are so screwed up was fined for what any kid can see on Miami Beach. Don Imus is popular man according to the 72 markets he is in because he expresses a sad popular opinion. We need to attack this systemically, tell him and anyone else that makes an ignorant degrading commenst to kiss our buttocks and stop giving him and anyone like him press or attention. We know this men are more common than not. Get him and them where it hurts and smile while we do it. Imus can retire TODAY to his cattle ranch and be fine. No he needs to be the "Buck tied to the Horses and pulled each way".
Jennifer
April 10, 2007 10:05 PM
Nice job on CNN today Chairwoman Kilpatrick
Ramona H. Edelin, Ph.
April 10, 2007 11:56 PM
This latest outrage from Imus, regarding the extraordinary young women of the Rutgers basketball team, is unforgivable and must not be accepted. This latest outrage – not the first, not from a young, inexperienced talk show host – is unforgivable because it callously and deliberately denigrated very young women who were doing very well exactly what this society says they want from its young people: excellence in scholarship with the added dimension of excellence in athletics. This latest outrage demonstrates that Imus is out of control, that he does not know where the lines of human decency are drawn, and that he is more irresponsible in his perverted attempts to be “funny” than the public airwaves should bear: it is unacceptable.
Suspension from his television show for two weeks is less than a perfunctory slap on the wrist. He should lose his syndicated radio program and his television program permanently. He should be fired in disgrace.
MSNBC and all the other networks should enforce standards of appropriate and ethical conduct on the airwaves that reflect our highest values about what it means to be human and to live interdependently in this nation and on this planet, together.
Charlene
April 11, 2007 00:32 AM
I feel very sad that these comments were even made. I am an avid basketball fan and have much respect for these young ladies. However I do not think that Don Imus is a racist. I think he said something that he now regrets. He apologized and I think that we should move on. The only people who should be discussing this is Imus and the young ladies on the basketball team.
Jack Hamir
April 11, 2007 00:37 AM
I agree that Imus should be off the airwaves-- but he should have been long ago. He has had a successful career catering to idiots with offensive dialogue like this for over three decades. The fact that he has had such a large audience for so long should be noted, and addressed. Firing him is fine, but do we do anyone justice when this very blog has comments that he should be drawn and quartered by his own horses on his ranch? Violence begets violence. Ghandi got the British out of India through non-violence. Do we really think we will do better with suggestions like this? And be honest-- isn't the real problem economics? By splintering poor people into bickering over diversity issues like racism, aren't the elite achieving their goal-- making sure that Americans do not unite against the corporate billionaires, and instead stayed focused on issues of color and race? Sure, fire Imus. But don't forget that the company who owns the company who pays him also is the biggest manufacturer of nuclear weapons in the world (Westinghouse), and that as long as the military industrial complex owns media in America, they will push an agenda of racism to divide and conquer. Don't get so caught up in temporary emotion that you forget to look at the big picture. If Americans stay focused on issues like this, we will never unite and reclaim this country for the people. Corporations will continue to elect presidents with their agendas as long as we stay divided.
Brian
April 11, 2007 01:03 AM
The one positive side to the Imus comments is that the nation has the opportunity to see a group of great future leaders. These women walked up to the podium in the manner they should, heads held high. They worked all season to be a success but their performance today showed that they would have been winners regardless of their season record.
These young ladies are not only our daughters but our older sisters and mentors. The team, their Hall of Fame Coach, and their families have every reason to be proud.
Ed
April 11, 2007 01:04 AM
Mr. Imus' comments were completely unacceptable and a indefencible. I do apreciate his apology and more than that apreciate that we have hit a point in our national development that announcers like Mr. Imus realize that they must apologize and be punished for saying such insensitive and hateful things. I look forward to when this country reaches the point that radio announcers don't say such irrehensible comments at all.
Tracy
April 11, 2007 01:38 AM
I feel that Don Imus has made these type of comments many times and I am glad to see that he is finally being held accountable.
I do think that this was different in the sense that he targeted young women who only desired to do that which they loved.
I hope this whole experience gives them a lesson that they will take with them for the rest of their lives.
Matt
April 11, 2007 02:32 AM
Don Imus is a bully and a jerk. He always has been. He runs his show that way and I think people tune in to listen to it because they enjoy validating that part of their consciousness.
Imus is also, by the way, not funny at all. He used to be the morning lead in to Howard Stern's program, so he is used to spouting off the cuff remarks. Its a kind of free-flowing topical banter. Somehow this culminated in him making an unfunny racist jab.
Should Don Imus be fired? I don't think so. He's not going to be so you might as well stop now if thats your goal. I think the better approach would be to take this incident, and previous ones like the Richards fiasco, and use it to have an honest discussion about race and hateful speech. Why did Don Imus say that remark? Was it because he hates African-americans? Where does racism come from? How can we take this and develop a better understanding of ourselves so that people will not just avoid being publicly racist but stop internalizing racist thoughts. Its only through education and dialog that this can happen.
When you call for Imus to be fired or for companies to pull their support form MSNBC, you only sound unreasonable. I don't think Al Sharpton was viscerally affected by the words Imus said on the radio. He should stop feigning outrage. I myself had to google the phrase to find out what it meant, its so old and forgotten. Its those girls who should receive the apology, although I think by extending this into hyper-rotation on the news cycle we only hurt them more. Now, their stunning victory will always be remembered and marked by a dumb 10 second phrase some stupid talk show host said on morning radio. If no one created this moral outrage they would probably go on with their lives having not even heard the story.
Kim
April 11, 2007 06:49 AM
CNN aired a segment focusing not on Imus' hurtful remarks or the Rutgers ladies' on-court talents but on their academic accomplishments. While criticism of Don Imus continues -- as well it should -- these women need to be lifted up. Let's talk about their accomplishments and goals for the future -- some want to be doctors, one is a musical prodigy, one wants to be a lawyer. Let's show young Black girls that you can have it both ways -- skills on the court and a career after the court. Oh, and that classiness and well-spokeness will carry you far.
Susan
April 11, 2007 10:22 AM
Great job on CBS news Congresswoman Kilpatrick.
Kristen
April 11, 2007 10:41 AM
There has been the call to have Don Imus fired for his insensitive remarks. The problem with just firing Imus is that someone else will immediately step in to fill his shoes- after all, the radio station does have a demographic to cater to! This incident needs to be used to educate, not just berate, those who agree with such racist thoughts.
AH
April 11, 2007 11:04 AM
I listen to Imus' show every morning and I am a person of color. His show's style is very edgy and at times walks that fine line. That is why he is a "shock jock". I do believe this was another one of his jokes that cross that invisable line decency. However, I do not think that he is a racist. If you have ever listened to his show you would know that he has a good heart and he takes the time to explore all issues and their impact on society.
The thing with comedy is that sometimes your on and other times you completely bomb. In this situation he told poorly conceived joke. He recognized it and has apologized. Sometimes we do not realize what we said until we say it.
The only good thing that came out of this is that it open the door again for us to talk about race, class, culture, and gender issue. We can explore issues of current oppression and the use of power to perpetuate oppression. Also, we are talking about lanuage and its effect on culture. The reality is that there is a segment in the Black community that would hear those words and not even think twice about them. We need to liberate ourselves from being tied to oppressive language that generates from within the community.
Lea Robinson
April 11, 2007 11:15 AM
Don Imus insulted not just the women on the Rutgers Basketball team but all women. His comments allowed the world to see into his heart. Unfortunately, I fear there are far too many who feel and think the same as Don Imus.
Aaron
April 11, 2007 12:00 PM
The passive almost docile comments I have read speak to how the issue of a man of notable status spills the language he did without immediate apology or remorse. He would have gone on with his normal banter this week if the story had not been picked up for public scrutiny.
Mr. Hamir if you read the full context of my posting referring to hitting him and others like him where it really hurts then you would have understood the "quartering", as you so eloquently put it, was a metaphor citing a documented practice done to slaves who were, by slave owners terms, out of control. Based on your interpretation of what I wrote you sound familiar with the practice, no offense, but the offense of his language and the unspoken outrage "felt" is rooted in the "spirit" of oppression from slavery.
We all can have good relationships when we are honest about what is, was and should be but very few people want to face the truth to get past it and the truth is much more than the actions of the past, it is the attitude and beliefs of the past that have amorphed for survival. Barak Obama is clean and articulate spoke to IT loudly but we dont always know what to call IT without appearing sensitive.
Kenneth Madison
April 11, 2007 01:15 PM
Don Imus a long track record of making inappropriate comments on the air. Hopefully, the actions taken by the parent company of Mr. Imus' radio show will set a bench mark in behavior modification for those in the public eye and ear. Although, MSNBC has taken a step by the suspension of Imus for two weeks, in my eyes that is not enough. Some sensitivity training needs to occur to prevent this from slipping out again.
Jack Hamir
April 11, 2007 01:35 PM
Aaron, you are right-- from a historical, not personal, context, I am familiar with this practice of quartering that was sometimes used on slaves-- bot also on others. My point is this-- hate is hate, no matter if it is in a racist context or not. Racism is just one flavor of hate. You will find European history full of it, where there is no color issue at all. What we need in this country is a change of mindset. I would suggest looking into the Department of Peace initiative by Dennis Kucinich, at www.thepeacealliance.org . This is the kind of change we need in America. Everyone has a past that contains hurt from hate-- people of every culture and race-- and only through peace will we ever heal our collective hurt and pain, and move towards a better life for everyone.
Blessings to the Rutger basketball team, who have risen above this cheap hurtful humor spoken at their expense. May we all follow their example, and rise above hate, with self dignity, self assurance and peace.
K
April 11, 2007 01:52 PM
I am an African American woman, who has watched the Imus Show on MSNBC for several months now. When I heard what the uproar was about and saw the replay, I recalled that in fact I had seen that particular show, and, given the overall content and context of the show, felt no more outrage than I have at any of the other "candid" remarks made by Mr. Imus and his cast of characters. I in no way am defending his remarks, and absolutely concur that they were inflammatory, however, there is larger issue at hand.
When the Michael Richards incident occurred, I was amused that so many people were outraged when we as African Americans, or at least I know I do, generally assume that all White people feel this way about us,while maintaining an outward charade of "political correctness". I quite frankly wish they would be more honest in their true feelings, and found it ironically "refreshing" that finally one of them had truly released all of that pent up hate and derision amd said what so many of them think and feel.
Don Imus, on the other hand, said nothing half as bad as I hear everyday when I indulge my college attending daughter and let her listen to her preferred radio station on my car radio. And further more, Don Imusis irrevent towards all of his guests, male and female,black, white or whomever, which does not make it right,but the format of the show is an acquired taste to say the least. My question is: When are we going to call for the boycotting and picketing of the music companies for their egregious behavior in allowing and PROFITTING from the music of the young men who consistently denigrate and insult African American Women of all walks of life, including Championship Basketball players? What Mr. Imus said is not even close to what white folks say every night while sitting at their dinner table. and not even close to the inflammatory language and depictions availble for viewing on BET and MTV!!!! Let's get them off the air too!!! Let's stop our kids from purchasing CD's and snapping their fingers to the beat of self denigration and debasement!
We need to address the overall issue of the pervasiveness of racism and getting Mr. Imus fired is not going to even begin to solve anything. He is a small cog in a larger picture of racism in the United States of America.
Finally, I reiterate that I am not approving of, nor would I ever defend Mr. Imus's words,they were unquestionably innappropriate and hurtful, however, I have seen his apology and, having been a regular viewer, I sincerely believe he is repentant, which I, as the worlds biggest skeptic, USUALLY DO NOT believe in situations of this kind. We are all guilty of mis-speaking and saying the wrong thing, even in our places of employment, and yet, would you want to be asked to leave for a mistaken word or gesturs--- which we all, as human beings, Black or white have made..I know this will probably fall on deaf ears, or in this case "eyes", but I needed to have my say. Thank you
d.s.l
April 11, 2007 02:59 PM
All of the publicity about this issue can be a double-edged sword. We absolutely should let it be known that we won't accept racism and sexism, but at the same time, it provides the publicity that these "shock jocks" crave. I mean when is the last time that Rush has received so much media attention? But this time I think the negative attention may have actually gained a victory by hitting them where it counts, the pocketbook. Skittish advertisers are backing out and taking their financial backing with them. I'm still in debate over the whole issue of freedom of speech because while instances like Rush's vocal bigotry demand placing tighter controls on the media, in other instances, it can be such a slippery slope (For example, is it okay to use racist jokes and language if you are of the race being offended? Who sets the guidelines? What should these guidelines be?). I hope this is not just naive thinking, but I do think consumers can and should play a more active role in the "product" they are paying for. I think we should engage in constructive thinking and actions and not despair that the entire world is racist or that those who are have more power than the rest of us.
Dr. Louise A. Rice
April 11, 2007 05:18 PM
We believe that it is time for media corporations to draw the line as to what is unacceptable in a nation that calls on its young to go to fight in Iraq, pay taxes, vote and perform acts of responsible citizenship but at the same time, they are unprotected from predatory, divisive and inhumane degradation of their character on public airwaves. It is incredible that anyone would use the public airways to display such utter disregard for the dignity of human beings such as the Rutgers student athletes whose commitment to scholarship and athletics is bringing honor to the university and our nation.
Dr. Louise A. Rice
National President
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated
Jack Hamir
April 11, 2007 05:23 PM
K and d.s. make a great points-- Don Imus is wrong, but then, so is a huge percentage of rap music that uses much more foul language, and endorses racial slurs, along with drug abuse and denigration of women.
Are we, as a culture, right to crucify Imus, and let the habitual use of much worse language go uncriticized in the music industry? And is it a double-standard to hold white Imus to such close inspection, and let african-american rap artists go unscathed from public outrage?
Nidia
April 11, 2007 08:09 PM
Mr. Imus cannot go around insulting people like that. We cannot let it slide because he goes around assuming the worst about a hardworking talented team. Who will he talk about next next? Instead of supporting and cheering for one another, he is leading the way in demoralizing our society by advocating derogatory comments. America may be the worlds superpower now, but with people like Imus, this nation is allowing rude and offensive narrow minded behavior to happen and its wrong. He should be fired because he has no sense of manners and does not know how to operate in the world's society.
CONGRATS TO THE RUTGERS WOMEN"S BASKETBALL TEAM!!
GO GIRL POWER!!!
Aaron
April 13, 2007 11:57 AM
Oppression is not the same as self hate. When we redirect the conversation to music and make comparisons of Massa' and fiddla' it shows how sadly we are off the mark. Don Imus will stil be able to move freely throughout a majority of the world while Snoop Dogg is BANNED in England, even to visit. People's perception of who we are as a People excludes us of the luxury of comparing our evils to anyone else's we must hold theirs up to the light and clean our own quietly because too many people are made to believe we own it all. No one has mentioned the fact that all of this happened on the anniversary of MLKing's death April 4, 1968
M. L. J.
April 17, 2007 11:36 AM
Today, my heart too mourns for black women. Not just because of what has happened, because that by itself is a tragedy, but I also mourn because of the chance we almost had to really talk about this situation and begin the healing process that is so needed in our community and in the larger community as a whole. I wanted to talk about black women.
The conversation that is now entering the marketplace of ideas is focused on one thing-the misogynistic language used by rap stars. From the Sunday political wonk talk shows, to Good Morning America and Today show segments, you see snippets of conversations about rap music, and grunge music, and pop music, but mostly rap music, and how they are contributing to the decay of our society’s moral fabric. This conversation is a good one, and a needed one and a conversation that should be had. However, very selfishly I only feel angst. Angst at the fact that these conversations dilute the exchange that is needed the most- the degradation and exploitation of women in our society, and in particular the degradation and the exploitation of black women.
We are at a junction of critical societal consciousness, a place where we can open dialogue to engage about the awareness of oneself and society. Yet, as we have done so many times before, we cheapen the dialogue and make this situation about “rap music” and one cranky, old, and ornery commentator, thus heading down a familiar path of distraction, and forgetting about the faceless, nameless black women all over this country, still cringing from another incident of marginalization.
I don’t want to just talk about rap music, Don Imus, or the double standards of language used in black American life. I want to talk about being a woman, being a black women and dealing with the hostility that women of color face everyday. I want to talk about society’s responsibility to begin a larger dialogue of healing for women. I want to talk about healing, mending wounds so deep you never realized they never healed. I want to talk about healing, because the nursery school rhyme I was taught so long ago “sticks and stones, may break your bones, but words will never harm me” doesn’t work for me anymore. It doesn’t work when I am bombarded with images, and words, and actions, and inaction all enacted against women who look like me, sound like me, and come from the islands, and southern states, and northeastern places that I come from. And when these words are overwhelmingly negative and there is rarely any societal backlash against it, you begin to believe your life is one that exists on the margins. That jokes and verbal tirades made at your expense are the cost of admission. You tell yourself that you should just ignore “all that stuff” because that’s not who you are, as an individual. And I know that, and I think I understand that and am immune to that hurt, until I hear “ nappy-headed-ho” and I am instantly transported back to 1st grade, trying to decompress my fear, and anger, and hurt all in one place, and not really knowing how to do that, and still doing that today as a twentysomething attorney trying to make her way in the world. I mourn for black women.
In 1994, one of my sheroes, bell hooks, stated with a greater saliency than I ever could what this debate is really about, in her article “Gangsta Rap—Black Women and Misogyny.” In it she states the degradation of women is not a phenomenon of black male culture; it is instead, she says, a consequence of the prejudices of our society. This is the conversation we should be having, this is the conversation I thought we almost had an opportunity to have. A chance to finally talk about how women of color all over the world face similar experiences of societally inflicted oppression. How women of color here in the United States are demonized, marginalized, eroticized, and trivialized. I thought we were going to get the opportunity to explain this situation with our own voices.
Sadly, to date, we have not. Sadly, we are being spoken for with “Ventriloquized Voices,” voices that look like they reflect how we are feeling in this situation, but in reality they are being said by someone else. While Essence Carson and the rest of her Rutgers teammates are identified as the faces of this latest tragedy, their voices are slightly heard, whispered at the fringes of this voracious debate.
The realties of the black female life, the only perspective from which I can speak, in America has been erased, or rather captured with the voice of some one other than us. Our feminist struggles are voiced through the life experiences of white women, and our civil rights experiences are voiced through black men. Thus, there is a gap in the dialogue about how we are dealing with yet another blow to the psyche from the most recent tirade. This time we did get a few opportunities to hear from some amazing black women, such as PBS commentator Gwen Ifill, herself a verbal victim of Don Imus’ tirades, and Dr. Julianne Malveaux, President of Bennett College, but by and large the conversation has been dominated by countless others, to the exclusion of black women.
So what do we do next? Do we wallow in our grief or do we try and turn the conversation back to where it should be focused - on women and the role they play in society? Well, that is what I am going to attempt to do. To force the dialogue to return back to the intersection of gender and race in the attempt that we will have meaningful, healing, substantive conversation. My only hope is that I can turn my mourning into dancing, and my pain into prevention. And in the event that this opportunity is side-stepped for a better story, or is co-opted by another sexier angle of this Imus incident, I will continue to speak with my own voice in the hopes that one day, we can have the conversation in this country that we need to, a conversation about black women, and women of color fighting to have their voices heard above the fray.
Sammy
April 23, 2007 05:17 PM
Since his selection by the Supreme Court George Bush, Karl Rove and the republicans in Congress and in the state legislatures have actively engaged in the dis-enfranchisment of black and other minority voters, from Florida, Texas, Ohio, New Mexico and across this country. Millions of people have lost their right to vote through no fault of their own.
J. Timothy Griffin, Karl Rove’s research assistant, was behind a scheme to wipe out the voting rights of 70,000 Florida citizens prior to the 2004 election. The voters on Griffin’s hit list were Black soldiers, Black and Hispanic voters from Democratic precincts, including, homeless men and women. Targeting voters where race is a factor is a felony crime under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Bradley J. Schlozman, a Bush political appointee in the Justice Department, overruled the recommendations of career staff in the Voting Rights section where he killed all efforts to investigate voter intimidation and he approved the illegal redistricting plan in Texas that took away voting rights of Black and Hispanic voters.
Bradley J. Schlozman is now the new US Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Brett Tolman, who worked as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee under Specter, was responsible for sneaking the provision to bypass Senate confirmation for US Attorneys into the Patriot Act Reauthorization.
Brett Tolman is now the new US Attorney for Utah.
This is the Justice Department under George W. Bush, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove and the republicans. There are many, many documented cases around the country of the Justice Department engaging in tactics to deny black to vote.
Don Imus is NOT IMPORTANT. Black people and other minorities losing the right to vote IS IMPORTANT. Yet, the only thing from the Congressional Black Caucus is what Imus and other such idiots said.
Why aren't the CBC making noise about the loss of right to vote for black and other minorities?
Imus on or off radio will not affect the lives of any of the posters here or of any black person in this country.
AFRIMERICAN
May 02, 2007 06:41 PM
One of the most interesting, no two interesting things about this concern is, (1) no one of any political, corporate, or media stature has taken the same stance per the content of so-called Hip-Hop with it's definite, and repeated message of My Bxxxxx, my Hx, my Glock, I killed Nxxxx, ad inifinitum.
No one talks about that because to do so, just like with Imus, to talk about it means they/you would have to talk about the corporate powers behind the scenes, and sadly they have been so effective in buying them a Nxxxxx in government, and elsewhere all remain silent until massa gives permission and on what topic one may speak.
This demonstrates the failure of Afrimerican leadership per it's inadequate, and ineffective representation of matters that have a more direct, and detrimental effect on Afrimerican lives.
As a collective and looking at a bigger picture, this act is miniscule, and only media fodder due to the embarrassing face it puts on White America, then the House Negroes chime in and it looks like a unified front when its not, and it gives the world an impression Afrimericans have an effective voice and power in America the race really does'nt have.
If you really want to take a stand, check out "AFRIMERICAN" on Google. It deals with Afrimerican nomenclature, and details the lies about same, while providing a more accurate academic and legal alternative.
You want to make some noise, make some about that, so far all I hear is silence.
Paul SMITH
June 26, 2007 10:26 PM
I am white male. I too have to overcome my own prejudices.
I have never istened to Imus until the problem occurred. In my own opinion, Imus was just trying to be one of the guys.
You can dislike it all you want.
This sets a sorry stage. Can WHITE people now claim the same civil injustices?
Let's make a position here. Let's have an understanding. I am a white guy. None of my ancestors had slaves, alright. We were the poor white trash from Eroupe at that time.
Another point to make: many africans sold their family, neighbors , friends and "slaves" captured from other tribes.
So, I tell you get your facts straight before ya start your damn crying and blaming. You were buyimg and trading each ther before the europeans arrived on your cursed shores.
There seems to be a lot more history if we choose to look into it dontcha think?
The point is, you and I are here at this time. What do what to do with it?
