Imus Spark put out.

Imus Spark put out.

Mike Ghouse, April 12, 2007

The concept of one nation under God falls flat with the comments like the one Don Imus made, referring to the mostly black Rutgers team as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio show at MSNBC.

He was insensitive and reckless with his words. Al Sharpton laid it out succinctly, “This is about the use of public airwaves for bigoted, racist speech.”

Freedom of speech comes with responsibility, if Don was an average Joe on the street, it would be easy to discount him. He is not an average Joe, he is a public figure who has a massive listening audience and innocently or deliberately, he could stoke the deadening sparks of bigotry in those few. We have come a long way in accepting and believing in that God has created all humans equal and we cannot let this regress with these comments.

Thanks to the responsible capitalism, that the businesses felt the need to keep the social harmony in place and not let aberrant comments aggravate that elusive equilibrium.
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Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker, Writer and a Moderator. He is president of the Foundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio, discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He founded the World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: "good for Muslims and good for the world." His personal Website is www.MikeGhouse.net and his articles can be found on the Websites mentioned above and in his blogs: http://MikeGhouseforAmerica.Blogspot.com and http://MikeGhouse.Sulekha.com . He can be reached at MikeGhouse@gmail.com. Mike lives in Carrollton with his family and has been a Dallasite since 1980.

Imus is Fired! Presidential Candidates Speak out.
http://www.towleroad.com/2007/04/msnbc_cans_imus.html

After several advertisers (General Motors, American Express, Sprint Nextel, GlaxoSmithKline, TD Ameritrade and Ditech.com.) said they were pulling ads from MSNBC due to Don Imus' racist remarks, the network announced that it would no longer be airing Imus' talk show (see video). CBS radio, another of the show's broadcasters, announced they would monitor the situation closely but stick to the two-week suspension they had put in place. Imus' comments, that memebers of the Rutger's women's basketball team were "nappy-headed hos", has set off a national debate on racism, political correctness, freedom of speech, and tangentially, homophobia and sexism.

Al Sharpton, who has been a vocal leader in efforts to get Imus off the air, said, "This has never been about Don Imus. I have no idea whether his is a good man or not. This is about the use of public airwaves for bigoted, racist speech." Imus appeared on Al Sharpton's radio show earlier this week and apologized for the comments.

Imus' comments inspired statements from many of the presidential candidates as well.
Barack Obama, who said he would never again appear on Imus' show, told ABC News: "I understand MSNBC has suspended Mr. Imus, but I would also say that there's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude...He didn’t just cross the line. He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America."

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton said, "I've never wanted to go on his show and I certainly don't ever intend to go on his show, and I felt that way before his latest outrageous, hateful, hurtful comments."

John Edwards made his intentions less specific: "I believe in redemption, I believe in forgiveness...What he said is wrong because it's wrong. It has to be condemned, we have to speak out when people use this kind of language. This is a very serious matter, it should be taken very seriously."

According to CBS, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani have both said they would continue to appear on Imus' show.

In Pennsylvania, a radio DJ was fired for sponsoring a contest in which viewers called in to repeat Imus' poisonous phrase: "I'm a nappy-headed ho."

And at Rutgers, students rallied to protest Imus' remarks, and Mary S. Hartman, university professor and director of the Institute for Women's Leadership, explained to the Home News Tribune why she thought Imus' remarks had touched a national nerve: "I think what (Imus') remark did was to expose the latent anger that we all feel. We are awakened anew to things that we just never paid attention to. I think people are just saying, 'Enough! We're not going to take it anymore!' There is a lot of hope here. Today is the beginning. A celebration of these young women was critically important for us, and to tell the world that this kind of trash radio needs to stop."

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Imus fights back, Sharpton still swinging

http://people.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1290551.php/Imus_fights_back_Sharpton_still_swinging

By Stone Martindale Apr 12, 2007, 16:22 GMT

Radio personality Don Imus has called out for justice in the Duke Lacrosse scandal, wondering where Rev. Al Sharpton's apology is for that false accusation.
Imus, while no longer part of MSNBC, is on the air today, and discussed the controversial case made against the white Duke Lacrosse players. "When will Al Sharpton be apologizing to them?" said Imus.

Imus also discussed MSNBC's decision. He discussed the fact that MSNBC had cancelled the simulcast "twelve hours before we were getting ready to conduct this radio-thon for these three charities."

Imus stated: "My position on all of this is not whining about the hideously hypocritical coverage from the newspapers -- from everybody -- or the lack of support, say, from people like Harold Ford, Jr. who I had my life threatened over supporting and all these kind of things. It all began, and it doesn't make any difference -- like [James] Carville said -- stop talking about the context, it doesn't make any difference. If I hadn't have said it I wouldn't be here. So let's stop whining about it...You gotta stop complaining. I said a stupid, idiotic thing that desperately hurt these kids. I'm going to apologize but we gotta move on."
Imus continued expressing his feelings: "The hypocrisy is absurd...Everybody knows what the deal is. And this is not over. This story does not end here."
He also said regarding MSNBC's decision: "I understand the pressure they were under. I'm not stupid."

Imus spoke with the mother (African-American) of a child who attended his camp. Imus said, "And I want to say to you as an African-American woman, I'm sorry for what I said...I want to apologize to all African-American women." The woman said, "Okay, I accept that."

Imus noted the support of arch rivals of Howard Stern, his own broadcast nemesis, the stars of satellite radio XM, Opie and Anthony: "I want to thank Opie & Anthony...I love them and I love what they do. I know they offend people perhaps more than I do. They're good loyal guys...Even Howard [Stern] hasn't been horrible."
Matt Drudge reports that "despite the controversy, Imus says contributions for The Tomorrows Children Fund and the Imus Ranch are 'way, way up' compared to this time in the show last year, which is significant because 'the money's more important this year than ever.' "

Drudge reported that MSNBC's Imus webpage was still up, with a statement and link to Imus' charities.

"I'm not surprised by any of this. I'm not surprised at the hypocrisy of Al Sharpton, of Jesse Jackson or any of these people. But you can't whine about it," aid Imus on the air.

"We can talk about all the good work that I've done forever, but I still said that. I'm not making any excuses. Everybody's got to stop whining and quit talking about it."
Drudge reports that Imus spoke of his future meeting with the Rutgers basketball players: "I can't go through the rest of my life -- nor can they -- without us having this conversation and me telling them how I feel and, more importantly, them telling me how they feel."
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http://cbs3.com/topstories/local_story_102114245.html

Oprah Hosts Talks Between Rutgers' Women And Imus

(AP) CHICAGO The Rutgers' women's basketball team and coach C. Vivian Stringer were scheduled to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Thursday as furor continues over remarks made about the team by radio host Don Imus.

Stringer and the 10 team members will appear live via satellite, a spokeswoman for Harpo Productions Inc. said Wednesday night.

Imus triggered an uproar April 4 when he referred to the mostly black Rutgers team as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio show.

The team spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday about the on-air comments, made the day after the team lost the NCAA championship game to Tennessee, calling them insensitive and hurtful.

MSNBC on Wednesday said it will drop its simulcast of "Imus in the Morning," after a growing list of sponsors said they were pulling ads. CBS Corp. has suspended Imus without pay for two weeks beginning Monday.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. )

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http://www.state-journal.com/news/article/1847702

Ten young women are the victims, not Imus
By TIM DAHLBERG

Photo By AP
Rutgers University students including Jackasha Wiley, left, and Courtney Benson, right, hold signs during a rally on the Douglass College campus in New Brunswick, N.J., to protest comments radio talk show host Don Imus made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

Members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team didn’t need to come forward to make a certain talk show host look like a buffoon. Don Imus pretty much took care of that himself when he first passed judgment on them on his nationally syndicated radio show.

Until they did, though, there might still have been some who accepted the original characterization that this was a group of rough and tough young women who managed to get into college only because they could dribble a basketball.
Turns out one is a class valedictorian, another a future lawyer. Still another is a musical prodigy who can play classical compositions on the piano without sheet music.

As a group, they are students who happen to play basketball and play it well. So well that they gained the attention of Imus by playing in the national championship game.

He noticed that most of them are black players. He saw that some had tattoos.
So, like any good talk show host, he put one and one together and came up with three.

Now I’m not exactly sure what "nappy-headed hos" are, but my guess is there aren’t many of them going to college, much less playing for the national championship. They’re not studying for law school, or playing classical music on the piano.
They certainly weren’t standing together Tuesday in matching red and black sweatsuits, some in tears, having to defend their honor at a time they should be celebrating a great accomplishment.

These were wounded young women.

They already had a lot of things in common before Imus opened his mouth. Now they have one more all have had a piece of their dignity stripped away just so a morning radio host could get a laugh.

"I achieved a lot, and unless they have given this name ’ho’ a new definition, then that is not what I am," sophomore center Kia Vaughn said.

Just where Imus came up with the phrase may never be known, though a guess could be made that he was trying to show his street cred. It’s laughable in itself that a talk show host eligible to draw Social Security was somehow trying to act hip, but there was nothing laughable about what he said.

Imus defenders those who haven’t already fled the sinking ship might argue that his comments were made at a time his brain was turned off and don’t reflect his true feelings. They might argue as he did the other day on the radio that he’s really a great guy who doesn’t see black and white among the children with cancer and blood disorders he invites to his New Mexico ranch.

That may be true. It may also be true that had a black comedian, rapper or talk show host said the same thing, it might have drawn nothing but a laugh.
Take a look at the hurt faces and tears in the eyes of his targets, though, and you begin to understand why this is different.

This wasn’t Al Campanis, the former Dodger general manager, saying on national television that blacks don’t have the "necessities" to be managers and general managers. This wasn’t oddsmaker Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder saying black athletes were better than whites because they were bred during slavery to be bigger and stronger.
It wasn’t even golf commentator Ben Wright making comments about lesbians on the LPGA Tour.

All three said inexcusable things, and all three paid the price by losing their jobs. But their targets were large groups of nameless people, not 10 members of a basketball team.

Before Imus opened his mouth, the women of Rutgers were going to be known for the great run that got them one win from winning the school’s first national championship of any kind since the Scarlet Knights shared a fencing title with Army in 1949.

They may yet be remembered for being a great team. But mostly they will forever be linked with one unforgivable phrase.

The hurt will last a long time.

"I think that this has scarred me for life," Matee Ajavon, a junior guard, said.
For that alone, Imus should lose his job, even though he plans to apologize privately to the team. He’ll have plenty of time to do so because CBS has suspended him for two weeks.

Imus, of course, has said some dumb things before and gotten away with it. He once called a black journalist a "cleaning lady" and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson a "fat sissy."

This time, though, the consequences could be dire.

MSNBC dropped Imus on Wednesday, saying they would no longer simulcast his program. Heavyweight sponsors such as General Motors and American Express are pulling ads from the show, and Bruce Gordon, the former head of the NAACP who is also a director of CBS Corp., called for his firing.

Imus deserves just that, if only to make a statement that you don’t do to people what he did to the young women of Rutgers.

Remember that they’re the victims here, not him. They deserve better.
"They are young ladies of class and distinction. They are articulate. They are gifted. They are brilliant. They are God’s representatives in every sense of the word," coach C. Vivian Stringer said.

Vaughn put it even better.
"I’m someone’s child," she said. "It hurt a lot."
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlbergap.org

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http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-imus_12edi.ART.State.Edition1.443cbc3.html

Cheap Shot: Imus' vile comments come as no surprise
08:32 AM CDT on Thursday, April 12, 2007

Don Imus' grumpy radio shtick mixes the best of Jon Stewart and Bill Maher, and the worst of Opie and Anthony and Howard Stern.
So, while vile and reprehensible, Mr. Imus' comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team shouldn't come as a surprise. Too often, women and minorities are brutal fodder for shock jock ridicule and insult.

MSNBC said yesterday that it will no longer simulcast the program. And at least four advertisers – including GM and Procter & Gamble – have distanced themselves from the show, a decision we imagine is more the result of calculated capitalism than true moral outrage. Surely, if advertisers had listened to the show, they would easily have found numerous other offensive cheap shot moments worthy of rebuke.

But the "dollars talk" mentality is the core of problem. Edgy sells; respect doesn't. These shows generate ratings in ways that a C-SPAN never will.
Edgy also promotes increasingly offensive racial and gender insults. It's ridiculous that Mr. Imus thinks he can be both a trash talker and a respected interviewer. Crass fraternity house insults blend poorly with thoughtful discussion. Inevitably, the latter is sacrificed for the former.

We do hope that those who have appeared on the Imus show give him what he deserves – nothing. If he wants to be a shock jock, let him stick with the guests of shock jocks.

Yet Rudy Giuliani supports Imus, saying he considers Mr. Imus' apology sincere and "would appear on his program again, sure." Others like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, both of whom also have insensitive racial remarks in their closets, want Mr. Imus fired.

Advertisers will decide whether they can lay low or need to begin divorce proceedings. If Mr. Imus becomes too toxic, he's gone.

Americans have short memories. As a nation, we're more likely to forget this incident than forgive it. In time, other shock jocks or public figures will utter some equally disgusting cheap shots. And when they do, they need to pay a price for their arrogance.

Imus Enablers

Imus's Enablers
By JOHN LEO April 11, 2007; Page A14
Let's have more talk about Don Imus's enablers -- all those prominent journalists and politicians who go on his show knowing that they will be featured along with degrading and allegedly humorous one-liners about blacks, gays, Jews and women.

The celebs like to talk about the high-minded Imus, who brings a sophisticated knowledge of public affairs to early morning radio. They wish to separate themselves from the low-minded Imus, the one who delivers racist wisecracks and featured "The First Lady is a Tramp," a song about Hillary Clinton, complete with references to her urinary habits and menstrual cycles. Like the piano player in the brothel, Imus's notables seem shocked that anyone would associate them with what goes on upstairs.

Back in 1996, Bob Dole and Joe Lieberman were attacking, respectively, Hollywood cultural pollution and trash TV. Both regularly went on Imus, where they were surrounded by material quite similar to the stuff they were complaining about. Besides, almost any pol might earn an Imus endorsement (He came out for Mr. Dole in 1996 and John Kerry in 2004.)
Jeff Greenfield once said that appearing on Imus is like being an important novelist excerpted in Playboy. You wish to be judged by your brilliant writing, not your proximity to the centerfold mammaries. But this raises the question of what the pols and journalists are doing when they go on Imus's show: Are they elevating our political culture or debasing it by legitimating an unusually low level of public discourse?

Imus taunted one reporter as a "boner-nosed, beanie-wearing Jewboy" and referred to the publisher Simon & Schuster as "thieving Jews," returning later with a mock apology explaining that he misspoke, since the term is redundant. He called the New York Knicks "chest-bumping pimps." Tucker Carlson, he said, is a "bowtie-wearing pussy." According to a Mike Wallace report on "60 Minutes," Imus said he picked a particular producer to do "nigger jokes" on air. Emily Rooney made one anti-Imus comment on CNN and said Imus pummeled her for three weeks as "a cow" and accused her of "getting into the liquor cabinet." An Imus assistant, reporting on sports, called tennis star Amalie Maurismo " a big old lesbo" and referred to the Indian men's doubles team as "Gunga Din and Sambo."

In 2001, commentator Clarence Page extracted a public pledge from Imus: The broadcaster would "cease all simian references to black athletes" and ban "all references to noncriminal blacks as thugs, pimps, muggers and Colt 45 drinkers."

Mr. Page is a rare example of a well-known journalist challenging the inflammatory rhetoric. Imus's prominent guests almost never get around to criticizing his vitriol. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a left-of-center press watchdog group, points out that in 2000 Tim Russert suggested that George W. Bush's appearance at Bob Jones University was "giving affirmation to that institution." Mr. Russert asked Mr. Bush, "Why are you associating with them?" Obviously, the same question can be asked about Mr. Russert's cozy relationship with Imus. New York Times eminence Frank Rich, a regular Imus guest, is ever alert to smears of gays and women and virtually went into a swoon when George Allen used the word "macaca." Yet a computer search failed to turn up any complaints from Mr. Rich about Imus's bigoted remarks.

During Imus's abusive speech at the radio and TV correspondents' dinner in 1998, there was talk of walking out on the speaker. It didn't happen. Later there was murmuring of a celeb boycott but the only notable to declare one was Cokie Roberts. ("I really don't think it would be appropriate for any of us to go back on.") Imus abused her on air, and Ms. Roberts returned.

What hold does Imus have on these people? Well, he sells a lot of books, and writers don't want to walk on principle if it's going to affect sales. Journalists who appear regularly on Imus know that speaking out will earn them days of on-air abuse and decertify them as important in Washington. Better to look the other way and stay in the big-time morning conversation. They can always complain about slurs delivered by folks who lack an important show.
Mr. Leo is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.