Thursday, April 12, 2007

It’s hypocritical but it’s true...


Months back I was walking through the heart of Harlem with a white friend. The girl in an attempt at being “hood” kept throwing the word “nigga” around. I advised her to erase that word from her vocabulary especially given where we were. She looked at me and asked, “what’s the difference between me saying nigga and you saying nigga?” “ An ass whipping.” I replied. “I won’t catch a beat down however you my friend will get torn up. You will pay for the sins of your ancestors. It’s hypocritical but it’s true.”


Popular shock jock DJ Don Imus recently made some comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team calling them “nappy headed ho’s” and the African American community flipped the hell out despite the fact that he called the entire team nappy headed ho’s not just a select few. Granted it was stupid, uncalled for, wrong and he is paying the price for it. Several days after his remark Imus went on a city wide apology tour. He said “I’m sorry” to anyone and everyone who’d listen. For a second there I thought he was going to set up a booth in the middle of Times Square and broadcast his apology 24-07. He was even brave enough to go on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s radio show to apologize knowing full well that Sharpton never missing an attempt to cash in on racism was going to hand him his ass in a sling.

As a result of his stupid remarks the Reverends’ Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have essentially called for Imus to be run out of town, tarred and feathered. I for one cannot believe the hypocrisy of these two individuals. These beacons of racial harmony who have never ever everrrr uttered a racist comment…(cough..bullsnot..cough) The Rev. Jesse Jackson was the very same man who while running for president in 1984 referred to Jews as Hymies and NYC as Hymie Town and of course who can forget the Rev. Sharpton’s involvement in the Tawana Brawley debacle.

Due to the drama surrounding his remarks the Imus show has lost sponsors and has been yanked from the air for two weeks. The suspension is a good idea everyone needs to use the time to cool down and Imus needs to be saved from himself. The other shoe dropped yesterday when MNBC dropped his show from their cable line up. That I believe was unnecessary but in the corporate world its all about covering your asses.


Seriously at some point people need to get over things. The man has been apologizing for a week. Accept the apology and move on, be the bigger person. Sharpton and Jackson have vilified this man. Yet no one takes into consideration the good works that Imus has done. He raises millions for charities and doesn’t take into consideration the race of those that benefit from his charitable work and he does it quietly without fanfare. I can’t recall the last time that Jackson or Sharpton did anything for a community without assembling photographers and several dozen news crews.

The women’s basketball team now says that their accomplishments this season have been tarnished and ruined because of Imus’s remarks …WTF?! Let me get this straight everything you busted your butt for and achieved means nothing because some old ass gringo in an ill advised attempt at humor called you a nappy headed ho? If that’s the case then the problem is with you and not the gringo. Do you see yourself as a nappy headed ho? If not then wtf do you care what an old man with insensitivity issues says about you? Sticks and stones my sisters, sticks and stones.

My fellow sisters speaking from my own personal experience as a person of color, a minority and as a Latina I am certain as hell that this is not the first time you've been referred to in derogatory racial and sexist terms and it sure as hell will not be the last time, especially within our own community. I’ve lost count of the times that I have been referred to as a “mira mira” or “spic” by members of the African American community. I simply brush it off because it ain’t crap. Moi a spic, me a mira mira? Pfft.. I’m a Boricua baby pa que lo sepas call me a spic and I will yell,"Hell yeah I am a spic i'm a Spanish Person In Control!.

I have busted my butt to achieve my academic goals and no amount of insipid remarks can take away my self-worth and pride. Next month I'll be walking down the aisle of Madison Square Garden held head up high receiving my degree; do you honestly think that if some fool were to shout out “SPIC!” at me it would negate my achievements? Oh HELL no. A racist remark only has as much power over you as you choose to give it. Call me all the racist names you want mofo, I can tell you to fuck off in two languages... three if I’m really pissed. I carry myself with pride and within me flows the blood of a proud people. Nothing you can possibly say will denigrate me because I will not allow it to, you have no power over me.

Lord knows the amount of times members of my Egyptian family have been referred to as a Habib or turban head by people trying to be funny members by the way of the same community that is offended because a white man called a group of women nappy headed ho’s. It pains me to admit that even amongst our people, amongst minorities racism towards each other exists. The thing is how do YOU see yourself? Cause I know for damn sure none of my black friends are nappy headed ho’s or niggas, none of my white friends are crackers, none of my Arab and Desi friends are diaper heads…none of my Italian friends are guidos, none of my Oriental friends are chinks…and none of my Latino friends are spics.

Why aren't Rev. Al and Jesse Jackson calling for the heads of of black rappers, slam poets, DJ’s Etc. who degrade the community by referring to each other as niggas, ho’s bitches and pimps with the same passion that they call for Imus's head? Where is Sharpton and Jackson when this is going on ? Why not call for the boycott of hip hop and all of the franchises that have been built on the back of the hip hop culture until they apologize for and rectify their behavior?

The reality of it all is that Don Imus got nailed to the wall for his remarks because he’s white. Period. It’s hypocritical but it’s true. It had nothing to do with what he said but everything to do with what he represents. The fact is if you listen to any urban hip hop station in the morning you will hear worse. Good lord you will hear so much worse. A lot of the urban DJ's make Imus look puritanical. The only difference here is the color of the DJ’s skin. Racism is racism no matter what color it comes wrapped in. If you’re going to point a finger at Don Imus then you need to look around and start pointing at the minority community as well because as a whole we are just as guilty of racism as he is, if not more because we are racist towards our own brothers and sisters and just let it slide.

Labels: Imus, racism

Posted by @ 9:59 AM
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