Certain members of the racial equality movement seem to be stifling freedoms preserved for all Americans. Insensitive comments made by Don Imus, syndicated radio host of 30 years for CBS and NBC, have fueled the mishandled blaze.
On the morning following the NCAA Women's Basketball championship between Rutgers and Tennessee, Imus joked about the Rutgers team's physical appearance.
"Some rough girls from Rutgers, man they got tattoos. That's some nappy-headed hos," Imus said over the air.
Howard Stern. Whoopi Goldberg during the 71st Annual Academy Awards. Any comedian on Comedy Central.
Imus is no Cosmo Kramer; there were no "n" bombs flying during Imus' show. What he said was insensitive, but no more sensational than the reactions to it. Imus apologized and explained to his critics that they took his words out of context.
That's the argument that should have remained at the forefront. By apologizing, Imus admitted guilt for a crime he didn't commit.
When his producer weighed in on the issue, however, he used antiquated slurs that should have a raised a few red flags.
However, Imus is being deprived of the rights that others enjoy. Is that equality?
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton are fanning the flames by creating lobbying bandwagons. It seems as if because public support of their respective movements is dwindling, so they wait for public figures to make a mistake, taking any gesture or statement that might be derogatory is opportunistically blown up in the media for as long as possible.
There must not be anything better to talk about on the radio, or on television. How many hours were devoted to coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death? And the Donald Trump-Rosie O'Donnell? Networks will do anything to get an extra viewer. No publicity is bad publicity.
Imus, you and your associates may have dug yourselves into this hole all by yourselves, but you'd have the option of crawling back out if it wasn't being intentionally widened.
As graduation nears, choose your temptations carefully
There are roughly four weeks left in the semester, which translates into four weeks for students to get in trouble with the Student-wide Judiciary. Not to mention sleeping through finals.
On-campus events are so tightly packed for the next three weekends that extra study time will be hard to come by. Ranging from Al Gore to Oozfest, forthcoming events will provide lots of reasons to not cram for finals.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
