Imus vs Issiah discrimination or a sacrifice on the altar of Political Correctness?

Imus isn’t the real bad guy

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

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.

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 and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, 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 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 don’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.

To reach Jason Whitlock, call (816) 234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com

It's wrong that Al Sharpton and other civil rights gangsters threaten boycotts of those who advertise on a show for making more benign statements than any gangsta rapper. This is p.c. to an extreme and while I have no use for Imus, this whole ordeal is an exercise in reverse racism, hysteria, and hypocrisy. By the way, I think the statements were wrong in both cases you describe and also, I think that a person's sexuality should not be a topic that people ridicule unless that person is a child molestor or rapist. If adults aren't hurting others then hey, its their right.

it is incorrect that Al Sharpton and different civil rights gangsters threaten boycotts of people who promote on a tutor for making extra benign statements than any gangsta rapper. that's %. to an extreme and on an identical time as I have not have been given any use for Imus, this finished ordeal is an exercising in opposite racism, hysteria, and hypocrisy. by using the way, i think of the statements have been incorrect in the two circumstances you describe and likewise, i think of that a guy or woman's sexuality should not be a topic matter that folk ridicule till that guy or woman is a new child molestor or rapist. If adults are not hurting others then whats up, its their ideal.

Issiah Washington normally acts with scripted lines, so there is less chance of his making another public faux pas. Imus was getting paid to say outrageous things, without a script, and his judgment failed him or his style isn't popular any more, or whatever.

I have no idea which of them is the better person. The issue is, which one can be relied upon to make money for his sponsors.

It's all just entertainment.

If this means that entertainers will start watching their mouths a little more, so much the better. Free speech doesn't really require crude language.

Negroes think that they are a special class higher than the gay community, of which they think it is a "white man's disease". Naturally, they fail to remember that without the likes of gay black men like Bayard Rustin & James Baldwin, they would never have gotten the level of civil rights they currently enjoy.

Remember, fellow Democrats, these are the same people who voted for George Bush's 2nd term of office solely because of their homophobic fear of gay marriage rights.

Slamming Imus for making one of his typically offhand insulting remarks but letting Washington slide for language you can't even use on Yahoo Answers is why these jokers deserve no respect at all. Flaming hypocrites is what Sharpton & Jackson (the same one who made the anti-semetic remark about NYC as being "hymietown") the pathetic old jokes they will always be.

PS: no one "chooses to be gay". That is an outrageous lie put forth by homophobic bigots.

Of course it's not fair and balanced. Both comments were equally hateful. The only difference I can gather is Al and Jesse were not involved. Wonder why? Aren't they civil right's activists for all the people? They say they are. If Isaiah had of gotten fired would they have rushed on the scene demanding his rehiring? We'll always wonder.............

I think political correctness is bullshit. Gays, black people, and anyone else that is a target of discrimination dont really care, because lets face it.. they know what they are.. and they dont care what anybody else has to say just because they are ignorant pricks. political correctness is being used against actors by people who never liked them in the first place. And also.. why would this guy go to "reverend" al sharpton to apologise.. since when is this *** hole declarer of forgiveness...

Be careful... the Political Correct Nazi's are everywhere and ready to report your complaints about the loss of free speech as abuse.

One comment was directed at a way of life the other was directed at a color of people. Someone who is gay chooses to be gay the other cannot choose there color. There is nothing to support this idea and you know it. Everyone is trying to excuse it one way or the other. There is one fact color can be seen while your sexual preference cannot. Do you actually go into someones bedroom to make sure they are gay?? If so you are weird.