In Defense of Don Imus

A note about Don Imus’ remark that the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team were “nappy headed ho’s,” as he watched footage of their game with Tennessee.

There is a double-standard at work here.

Imus has been described as an “equal-opportunity offender,” and is notorious for picking on myriad ethnic, religious, and racial subsets of the Human Race.

Personally, I think his remarks were no more offensive or objectionable than the trash talk that emanates from the mouths of black rappers who inject superfluous “niggas” in every other “verse” of their art, and liberally sprinkle the alternating verses with vernacular relating to female dogs, and men who sleep with their mothers. Yeah, that’s socially-redeeming material.

Morality in Media President Robert Peters commented that if the FCC been doing its job, the entire incident "might have been prevented because radio stations would have long ago curbed hardcore rap lyrics with sexual comments about African American women." Imus is at worst guilty of bad judgment in attempting to mimic language that is painfully common already. Peters correctly identifies the real question as: "Will the FCC finally do their job and begin taking the smutting rap lyrics off the air?"

I’ve heard the tape; I’ve watched the video of Don Imus’ off the cuff remarks. Imus paid the Rugters team a left-handed compliment—in their own vernacular—that theirs is a team to be reckoned with on the court. They’re tough and intimidating to other teams, described by Imus as “cute.”

Frankly, if you’re on a competitive team, would you rather be portrayed as tough or cute?

Al Sharpton and the other shrill voices of the politically-correct establishment have gone over the edge equally as far in calling for Imus’ firing. MSNBC and CBS Radio, willing sycophants to the left, are suspending the Imus show for two weeks.
Sharpton’s harangue at Imus included the hypocritical statement that racial slurs, like “nappy headed ho’s,” shouldn’t be allowed on the public airwaves.
True dat.

But clean up your own parish, first Reverend, and let’s also put the quietus on the icons of the Black entertainment industry who are raking in millions, and influencing the minds of Black, Brown, Yellow, Red and White youth with their denigrating, demeaning speech and depictions of black culture—which also fills the airwaves and cable connections each day.

All humor is rooted in truth. Imus just struck a nerve root.