Ho tendencies

Count me as the many who didn't have any clue radio shock jock Don Imus was still on the air.

I vaguely remember him and the only reason I even knew of him was because of the many controversial statements has made in the past. But recently he was brought back to national "prominence" because of his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

To give a little background, Rutgers lost to Tennessee in the women's national championship in Cleveland. A few days later on his radio show, which was simulcast on MSNBC, when discussing the game, Imus called the players "nappy-headed hos" and referred to the Tennessee-Rutgers matchup as the jiggaboos vs. the wannabes, an obvious reference to Spike Lee's School Daze.

Although it was a lame attempt at humor and one must ask "What the hell was he thinking?"

While it took some time for the story to spread, once it did, it picked up speed like a rocket. It was on CNN, FOXNEWS, ESPN and talk radio shows and newspapers all of the country. It made for some good office chatter, which is still going on now. I'll share my feelings later on in this post.

As stated earlier, Imus has a history of ignorant, racial remarks. He once called respected journalist Gwen Ifill a "cleaning lady." So this came as no surprise.

Predictably, since it had some racial overtone, Jesse and Al came running. This was their time. This is where and when they "shine." And naturally, the cameras followed. Rutgers held a "feel sorry for me" press conference, were head coach C. Vivian Stringer and her players so eloquently represented themselves and the university, looking and sounding nothing like nappy-headed hos.

However, in the midst of the Imus-Rutgers controversy, another storm came ashore. Many called bullshit on this whole thing. Many called black America hypocrites for only speaking up when slurs and demeaning words come out of the mouths of old white guys rather as opposed to saying nothing when it comes from out own communities. You hear the question asked, "Well, rappers use degraded terms in their lyrics all the time, where's the outcry then?"

Others in the black community, including myself, question the motives and validity of Jackson's and Sharpton's actions. For whatever reason, these two have been appointed the President and Vice President. Many feel they don't speak for our community and that they are "outdated" thus misrepresenting what a vast majority of black folk really feel.

AOL and Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock weighed in, calling Jackson and Sharpton "terrorists". Newsday's Shaun Powell says we should not condemn Imus, yet thank him.

Look, nobody is saying Imus was not wrong. On a FCC monitored public broadcast, he should have know better. The hell with what he thinks once he gets from behind the mike. However, it becomes confusing to mainstream America and starts a debate when terms that "we" often use and dub endearing are all of a sudden attacked when someone else uses it. Maybe we need to self-police ourselves and re-think somethings.

CBS fired Imus and whether or not he should have lost his job was debatable. What he did do, was make black folk talk and in turn, look in the mirror. It has made us talk, which, despite the different opinions that come from the talk is the main thing.

I'm still lukewarm on my stance. I was offended by his statements and while I thought his apology could have come sooner and been a bit more sincere, he did apologize. But until then, I hope this situation makes us realize we have to respect ourselves before we can expect anyone to respect us.