The Don Imus Story

[EddieO's21]

Ok look, I don't put much in the Rant section but here we go...

The comments that Don Imus made regarding the women from Rutgers University Basketball team were unexcusable, tactless, rude, sexist, racist and the list goes on...

HOWEVER...I am sick and tired of the lynching that has been going on in the media over what should be done next with Imus. Or how implorable this has become. Or even, how many more apoligies he needs to 'make up' for what he said

Give me a break

This world it seems has become to pre-occupied with uncovering racists and biggots that people will turn anywhere to sniff them out. Obviously, I am not backing what Don Imus said...but the people who are attacking him, notably Jesse Jackson (lets not forget his remarks during his run for the presidency) and AL Sharpton are some of the worst abusers of racial profiling this country has seen. I watched Al Sharpton last night defend rap music as a 'cultural understanding' and that Blacks are free to use the N word for years of persucution and as an ideological symbol between them.

GUESS WHAT, ITS NOT OK, not one of these things are

if we are going to point the finger, we need to point it at blacks, whites, asians, gays, heteros, hispanics, because guess what we are all to blame for some wrongdoing in this field of utter hipocrasy.

In the mean time...lay off Imus, his career is gone, until XM picks him up or something, it's time to move on to something that really needs to be talked about in the media other than who's next on the chopping block

[Mackus]

Heh, heh. Yeah. Apologize. *end Jesse Jackson Southpark voice*

I'm not sure which story I'd rather never hear about again more, this one, or anything that has to do with Anna Nicole Smith.

[ledzepp8]

The whole thing is stupid and overblown, especially because they were basically quoting the Spike Lee movie School Daze. The moment anyone says anything slightly racist, you've got Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson jumping on it to further their careers.

I saw this mentioned on another board talking about this situation: Listen to the Rutgers girls IPODs and count how many times you hear the words "nappy headed" or "hos".

Imus should have had enough common sense to not say what he said, but I really don't think there was any racist intent and he's basically getting hosed.

[NewMarketSean]

Jesse Jackson

Jackson has been criticized for some of the remarks he has made about Jews and Jewish issues: that Nixon was less attentive to poverty in the U.S. because "four out of five [of Nixon's top advisors] are German Jews and their priorities are on Europe and Asia"; that he was "sick and tired of hearing about the Holocaust"; that there are "very few Jewish reporters that have the capacity to be objective about Arab affairs"; [11] In addition Rev. Jackson had referred to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown" in January 1984 during a conversation with Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman. [12]

Al Sharpton

Tawana Brawley Controversy

In the Tawana Brawley case, a 15-year-old black girl was found smeared with feces, lying in a garbage bag, her clothing torn and burned and with various slurs and epithets written on her body in charcoal. Brawley claimed that she had been assaulted and raped by six white men, some of them police officers, in the town of Wappingers Falls, New York.

Attorneys Alton H. Maddox and C. Vernon Mason joined Sharpton in support of Brawley. A grand jury was convened; after seven months of examining police and medical records, the jury determined that Brawley lied about being assaulted by the police. Sharpton, Maddox and Mason accused the Dutchess County prosecutor, Steven Pagones, of being one of the perpetrators of the alleged abduction and rape. The three were successfully sued for slander and ordered to pay $345,000 in damages, the jury finding Sharpton liable for making seven defamatory statements about Pagones, Maddox for two and Mason for one. [6]

Crown Heights Riot

The Crown Heights Riot occurred after a car accident involving the motorcade for the Lubavitcher Rebbe killing a young boy, Gavin Cato. A riot was sparked after a private Hasidic ambulance came to the scene and, on the orders of a police officer, removed the Hasidic driver from the scene. Gavin Cato and his cousin Angela were picked up soon after by a city ambulance. Caribbean-American and African-American residents of the neighborhood then rioted for four consecutive days fueled by rumors [7], [8] that the private ambulance had refused to treat Cato. [9]

Sharpton became the de-facto representative for the Cato family. During the funeral he referred to "diamond merchants" considered a code word for Hasidic Jews [10] [11], for shedding "the blood of innocent babies" leading marchers shouting "No Justice No Peace". A visiting rabbinical student from Australia by the name of Yankel Rosenbaum, 29 years old, was killed during the rioting by a mob shouting "Kill the Jew". [12]

I too, am sick of the racial double standard. But Imus had it coming. According to Howard Stern, Imus was a racist back in the early 80's when they worked for WNBC and said that Imus would dole out the N-word to Robin and other black workers at the station, saying it to their faces.

So Imus had it coming. I just wish his past racial remarks would come to light too, to show people defending him that this is not an isolated incident.

[EddieO's21]

Jesse Jackson



Al Sharpton

case and point

[ScottieBaseball]

I know this is going to seem unfair and premature, and I know this is the rants section and all, but fellas...this ain't the place for this debate.

***EDIT*** I'll unlock it and leave it that way as long as it steers clear of becoming a political debate.

[ledzepp8]

Jesse Jackson



Al Sharpton



I too, am sick of the racial double standard. But Imus had it coming. According to Howard Stern, Imus was a racist back in the early 80's when they worked for WNBC and said that Imus would dole out the N-word to Robin and other black workers at the station, saying it to their faces.

So Imus had it coming. I just wish his past racial remarks would come to light too, to show people defending him that this is not an isolated incident.

I'm not necessarily defending him, I don't listen to him and never have. But you're correct, it's a horrible double standard. This is why some people get it in their heads that whites are the only ones that can be racists. I love Chris Rock, but when he can say "Cracker ass cracker" in a comedic setting and Don Imus can't say "nappy headed hos" in a comedic setting then we have a double standard. I know he was talking about specific people, but everyone gets made fun of. People need to quit taking themselves and everything else so seriously.

[blueberryale77]

The comments that Don Imus made regarding the women from Rutgers University Basketball team were unexcusable, tactless, rude, sexist, racist and the list goes on...

HOWEVER...I am sick and tired of the lynching that has been going on in the media over what should be done next with Imus. Or how implorable this has become. Or even, how many more apoligies he needs to 'make up' for what he said

Give me a break

You think you're sick of it, try going to Rutgers! We've had student protests against Imus, emails from the university president, impassioned speeches from the coach about how these young women are all saints who are absolutely beyond reproach and in most cases were even valedictorians of their high schools... Come on people, a shock jock said something he shouldn't have, have a little talk with your students about how racial and sexual slurs are bad, then let CBS watch his ratings and see if enough people boycott to make it worth their money to take him off the air. Now because of all this hoopla he's a martyr for the really dangerous racists out there. And as far as the public outcry, aren't there bigger issues out there (which we're really not allowed to talk about on the OH)?

Oh... and did you hear the Governor of New Jersey nearly got killed in a car accident rushing to Trenton to mediate the meeting between Imus and the players? It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

[66-70-83-??]

You think you're sick of it, try going to Rutgers! We've had student protests against Imus, emails from the university president, impassioned speeches from the coach about how these young women are all saints who are absolutely beyond reproach and in most cases were even valedictorians of their high schools... Come on people, a shock jock said something he shouldn't have, have a little talk with your students about how racial and sexual slurs are bad, then let CBS watch his ratings and see if enough people boycott to make it worth their money to take him off the air. Now because of all this hoopla he's a martyr for the really dangerous racists out there. And as far as the public outcry, aren't there bigger issues out there (which we're really not allowed to talk about on the OH)?

Oh... and did you hear the Governor of New Jersey nearly got killed in a car accident rushing to Trenton to GRANDSTAND at the meeting between Imus and the players? It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

There, I fixed that line for you.

[Lefty0315]

Oh... and did you hear the Governor of New Jersey nearly got killed in a car accident rushing to Trenton to mediate the meeting between Imus and the players? It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt![/QUOTE]

Do you think the state trooper that was driving will get a ticket for having a passenger with out a seat belt?

[NewMarketSean]

I'm not necessarily defending him, I don't listen to him and never have. But you're correct, it's a horrible double standard. This is why some people get it in their heads that whites are the only ones that can be racists. I love Chris Rock, but when he can say "Cracker ass cracker" in a comedic setting and Don Imus can't say "nappy headed hos" in a comedic setting then we have a double standard. I know he was talking about specific people, but everyone gets made fun of. People need to quit taking themselves and everything else so seriously.

There definitely is a double standard, but racism against whites is hardly as bad as it can get the other way around. There is no stigma attached to racism against whites. I've never heard anything said about whites that I took offense to. And most of it reeks of a defensive ploy to respond to racism against blacks. But I've cringed several times when I've heard of racism, whether it be remarks or physical abuse against blacks.

That doesn't make either racism right, or more tolerable, I'm just saying that whites weren't made slaves for 500 years, and then kept apart from society for another 100, so we'll never know what that feels like, to be demeaned in that kind of manner.

[BaltimoreTerp]

http://www.kansascity.com/182/story/66339.html

[crstrobel]

I would like to know...

When a white person makes a boneheaded racial comment like Mr. Imus, why do they feel like the first thing they have to do is apologize to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? Those are the last two I would apologize to. Seems to me that they make the situation worse and create an even greater divide.

[Spoonless]

I just think MSNBC could have held off dropping his show until after his telethon to raise money for SIDS. It's not like they didn't know he was having it. Way to take money away from a good cause.

[BaltimoreTerp]

I would like to know...

When a white person makes a boneheaded racial comment like Mr. Imus, why do they feel like the first thing they have to do is apologize to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? Those are the last two I would apologize to. Seems to me that they make the situation worse and create an even greater divide.

It's like swimming in a shark tank, then cutting yourself