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Editorial
See other Editorial Articles

Title: The art of distraction, Gangsta rappers pose a bigger threat to black community
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.statesman.com/sports/con ... UTUWUcUbUZUcUaUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y
Published: Apr 13, 2007
Author: Jason Whitlock
Post Date: 2007-04-13 19:00:35 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 349
Comments: 42

Thank you, Don Imus. You've given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You've given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

Jeremy M. Lange THE NEW YORK TIMES

(enlarge photo) While anger is fixated on Don Imus, seen here talking to the Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday, what of rappers who use the same language?

MOST POPULAR STORIES Storms could bring hail, isolated tornadoes tonight Former Hutto High police officer charged with photographing girl Acid spread in Leander city park Go ahead and filet Imus, but skin his bosses, too Bible elective class bill stirs religious debate Share This Story del.icio.usdigg Newsvinereddit Yahoo!Facebook What's this? You've given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it's 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we're fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I'm sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent's or Snoop Dogg's or Young Jeezy's latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain't saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don't have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It's embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I'm no Don Imus apologist. He blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But he didn't do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should've been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it's only the beginning. It's an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we're supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers' wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended (and now fired) and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I didn't listen or watch Imus' show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it's cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they're suckers for pursuing education and that they're selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I'll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you're not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There's no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.

#1. To: christine (#0)

We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There's no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Actually, Sharpton has repeatedly criticized Gangsta Rappers.

The downfall of Imus was significant as a Triumph of Capitalism. He Lost his job because sponsors were afraid of boycotts. The free market worked. A bitter old drug addict made fun of too many people, and eventually paid the price. He was too offensive to too many people.

Better to let the free market vanquish bigots than to let the government control speech.

leveller  posted on  2007-04-13   20:31:08 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


Replies to Comment # 1.

#2. To: leveller (#1)

The free market worked.

Not in this case. A pair of black hucksters did indeed scare some global capitalists and feckless whites, but what's new? This pair of rejects from Amos and Andy have been thugs and criminals all their lives. Only intimidation of the white race keeps their scam rolling along. The triumph belongs to the proponents of political correctness and those who support pending hate speech law.

PS: The free market ceased to exist once capitalism crossed our borders and morphed into transnational corporations.

Jethro Tull  posted on  2007-04-13 20:51:02 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: leveller (#1)

The downfall of Imus was significant as a Triumph of Capitalism. He Lost his job because sponsors were afraid of boycotts. The free market worked. A bitter old drug addict made fun of too many people, and eventually paid the price. He was too offensive to too many people.

Better to let the free market vanquish bigots than to let the government control speech.

You couldn't be more wrong. You are lost in Neverland, MJ. Come back.

If there were no government regulation of television and radio, if government didn't control the entire process for licensure and renewal of licensure, if government didn't control the entire basis of value for a radio or tv station (it's ticket to operate), Imus would still be on the air.

If the Amos and Andy of racial shilling hadn't been getting blacks nationwide to file FCC complaints all week, and if those complaints carried no weight, Imus would still be on the air.

Imus has listeners, and he'll have listeners again when this overblown excuse for a scandal fades and sanity returns.

Paul Revere  posted on  2007-04-13 21:55:20 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  


End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.

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