Fire Imus
I’m not usually the one to say “off with their heads” when someone says something in public that is stupid. Do we really think Sen. Joseph Biden is a racist because he said Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, is the “first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Insensitive and thoughtless yes, but racist?
That said, this whole Don Imus mess involving his stupid, crass and ugly comment about the Rutgers women’s basketball team, that they were “nappy-headed ho’s” is in a different category. He was not making fun of a politician or a professional athlete, fair game in my book. He was talking about 19- and 20-year-old students, who were only on Imus’ radar because they made it to the NCAA National Championship game. Such an accomplishment should not make you the butt of an old white man’s jokes on the national airwaves.
Plus, please tell me, what was supposed to be funny about that comment?
It has been nearly twenty years since Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder lost his job for saying blacks have a genetic advantage over whites athletically. Around that same time, Al Campanis, an L.A. Dodgers executive, suggested that blacks don't have the "necessities" to make good managers.
Those guys lost their jobs. When they passed away, listed in their obits were the controversial remarks that came to define their final years on earth.
In 2007 shouldn’t we be more diligent — not less — about punishing racist remarks?
If Don Imus is left standing after this controversy, perhaps with his hair a little mussed (like you can tell with that mane of his) aren’t we stepping backwards?
Toss him off the airwaves. Send a message that even if you are famous, rich and white, you can’t say something that hurtful and stupid over the national airwaves and get away with it.