Don Imus - Why We Care

Unless you've been completely disconnected from all forms of the media over the last week, you probably know that radio talk show host Don Imus, whose show reaches several hundred thousand listeners a day through syndication and a live TV broadcast on MSNBC, ignited a firestorm with his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team. He called the members of the team, which is 80% black, "nappy headed hos."

As a result, he was at first suspended for two weeks without pay. Then, as the story found legs and wouldn't go away and morally superior heavy hitters like Al Sharpton (who has said and then later apologized for homophobic and anti-white rhetoric) and Jesse Jackson (who has said and later apologized for anti-Jewish rhetoric and also cheated on his wife and had a kid with the mistress) jumped in, he was dumped by MSNBC and finally fired completely by CBS which dropped his radio show that reaches a little over a million listeners a week. He was fired, they said, because what bothered them most was the effect words like his have on young women of color all over the country. But really it was because a bunch of the show's sponsors had pulled out and, well, money talks.

Why was this such a big story? It wasn't because his words did a lot of damage. Were the women of the Rutgers basketball team somehow greatly injured by what he said? Granted, the words probably stung more because they had just lost the championship game and they were getting kicked while they were down, but these are intelligent women with bright futures ahead of them. The words of some insensitive white guy didn't damage or endanger that.

I think it was such a big deal because on the whole the American people do have a sense that the idea of the U.S. as a land of equal opportunity for everyone as long as they're willing to work hard is something of a myth. They know that things aren't quite right in this country, and slamming Don Imus helps make them feel like they're doing something about it. Don Imus saying what he said is not responsible for the fact that more black men are in prison than in college. He's not responsible for Latinos having the lowest college participation rate of any ethnic group. Guys like him are not the reason that my students are so isolated culturally, linguistically, and economically. But those are all things that are hard to address. The solutions require a multi-lateral approach and a great deal of thought, energy, and cooperation. It's much easier to call for the ouster of a talk radio host and feel like you're doing something to help make this country live up to its promise than it is to go after the real problems of racism and poverty.