(I Mus)t Be Dreaming

Nappy-headed hos.

Sounds ridiculous, right? An ignorant, insensitive, irresponsible remark uttered by a major media figure whose guests include senators and journalists, and who devotes nearly all of his free time to helping kids with cancer.

Rewind to April 4th. MSNBC hasn't fired Don Imus yet. CBS Radio hasn't suspended him for two weeks yet. No one knows of the eloquence of Coach Vivian Stringer, and the I-Man hasn't been 24-hour news fodder.

OK. Now have the heads of General Motors, Proctor & Gamble, Staples, the president of NBC News, and all of the politicians and authors who have now said they'll never appear on his show again tune into the Imus in the Morning Radio Program that morning. Don Imus and his producer, Bernard McGuirk, are discussing the NCAA Women's Basketball championship matchup. Imus refers to the Rutgers team as a bunch of nappy-headed hos. Now observe how all of these people react to the remark, independently of each other. Does NBC News President Steve Capus fire him on the spot? Does Bigelow Teas pull their ads right away? Are they even going to react with anything more than a shrug and something like, "Oh, it's Imus being Imus"?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, folks, keep in mind that I was born at night. But not last night.

Point is, none of these hyprocrites would do a damn thing about this whole situation if they didn't face the prospects of bad publicity and lost revenue. People accusing Imus of damage control? Please also mention the same about American Express and Cal Ripken, Jr.

This is all happening in the wake of Michael Richards' tirade and George Allen's macacagate. Richards got nostalgiac for days of violence and lynching of blacks. Allen managed to bring up the war on terror immediately after his slur to invent a comparison. Imus got lazy and fell into the trap of his old shock-jock days. His behavior is paltry when juxtaposed with the hatefulness of the other two.

Imus has repeated the word "context" in the past week. The conversational context of his words don't justify them. But take a look at his three-decade career. I've listened to him for a tenth of that period, and during this time he has continued his tremendous philanthropy towards the C.J. Foundation for SIDS, the Tomorrows Children's Fund, and the Imus Ranch. He beat the drums of support for former-Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. who unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in 2006. Harold Ford is a black man, and Imus deplored the racial sentiment which likely caused him to lose a squeaker of a race.

Some of the loudest people in this mess have been two groups who shouldn't even talk. These are those who have listened to his show for years and are somehow surprised that he makes fun of people for just about anything, and those who have never listened to the show and think that he should be fired without question.

This is between Don Imus and the Rutgers team. He dumped on an innocent target, and he's doing the right thing by meeting with them to apologize. They'd have every right to refuse, and they have shown tremendous dignity. Those who are outraged for the sake of being outraged are doing more harm than good. The race movement in this country should be about uniting, not casting someone out of society who made a mistake and has promised to change.

As a final point, MSNBC has acted wrecklessly for announcing this decision tonight. The 18th Annual Telethon for his three causes mentioned above takes place tomorrow and Friday. The telethon has been enormously successful and has raised millions for the charities. If the network really felt they had to do this, they should have waited 48 hours rather than cheating sick children and families who have dealt with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome out of something truly great. MSNBC should be held to the same scrunity for their irresponsibility.