Imus is Not a Rapper

I did not want to comment on the remarks that Imus made or even the response to it and I would have saved my two cents if the media would stop comparing him to rappers and comparing his world to hip hop. Imus is a very rich, very old white man and his comments had nothing to do with hip hop. What he said was racist, sexist, mean and vulgar. I don't like it when rappers make the same kind of references in their music but even they don't refer to individual women by these names when commenting and I have heard lots of radio programs and read interviews with artists. That does not excuse their bad mouths but it is definitely not the same thing. Not even close. To me, a lot of the media coverage was also racist and sexist just more polite. Now there is all of this talk about Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. It is the media that keeps going to them even when there are others that could comment. Where are the Black women who are experts on racism and sexism? When will a Black woman get a CNN or Fox news program? I am glad that Imus is off the air but I wish that he had resigned. Since the team accepted his apology that's good enough for me. Now that he is retired he can devote even more time to charity.

As for the Duke players it is too bad that they had to go through all of the drama but I wonder what their reputations were like on campus? What kind of party was this anyway? A wild party is no excuse for false reports. Sounds like the accuser is crazy but it still does not all add up of course that is nothing new. The men seemed so shocked to experience how the criminal justice system really works. If they were Black and poor it might have taken 20 years to prove their innocence and the DNA evidence might have gotten totally lost. I don't think that Fox News should have used her name and photo. It was still a rape case and in the future victims of rape might not report it if they don't get beaten to a pulp and left for dead. America needs to talk about race, gender, and class issues. If it is hard for rich white college men to get justice then just think about what it is like for poor people. The woman that made the accusation was wrong and the prosecutor was wrong for pursuing it especially when the evidence did not support his case but if this is the way that he normally proceeds then it would be better to examine the system than to act like this was an isolated case.

In both cases the people are young and smart they all can use their experiences to improve things. They already have.