Who runs the RACE?

It seems like the common theme this week is one thing. RACE.

Everything seems so black and white. No time or place for gray matters.

Websites, news outlets and can’t forget Blogs. Some of my fellow bloggers let loose this week.

Imus pissed off nearly everyone (don’t sleep, somewhere out there someone doesn’t see ANYTHING wrong with his statement). So now he’s got the boot. Done. Fired.

In another part of the country this week, the justice system granted some Duke lacrosse players relief. They won’t see any jail time over the alleged rape that occurred. I gotta be honest on this one. I was skeptical from the outset and when I saw the other dancer interviewed on 60 minutes by Ed Bradley (RIP), then I figured something was up.

In my mind I thought one thing.

Is Crystal Gail Mangum the latest Tawana Brawley????(click on their names to read their stories).

So Imus is fired. Is that it? Eventually it will become old news. Maybe even forgotten except by the Rutgers women basketball team.

Do the protests stop? Do we halt discussions about race? I think this past week was evidence that racism still exists. It’s alive and well.

I gotta be honest. I’m bothered by a couple of Imus aftermath events. First, Imus’ comment followed another comment made by one of his radio show sidekicks. I think he said something like “tough or rough ho’s” or similar. Then Imus made his comment. I have yet to hear of that person being fired.

Second, his dismissal seemed like more of a business decision than a race issue. The sponsors (a.k.a the big businesses) pulled out first probably because they realized that being associated with someone who makes those comment will have an impact on their bottom line. After all, we are big spenders right? Then MSNBC pulled. Then finally CBS pulled. Notice as the pockets started dwindling, CBS made a decision. That wasn’t an accident. Take away a revenue stream from any big business and watch what happens. They’ll make decisions so fast you won’t know what hit you.

I decided to be an investigator today. I went online and looked up the definition of “ho”. I mean, I’ve heard it before in music. Snoop said “bitches ain’t shit but ho’s and tricks”, so I know how to use it in a sentence. But what does it actually mean? Look what I found.

 

African American Vernacular English??!?!?!?!?!?!?! Apparently that word is linked to us.

With all the rah-rah and rhetoric surrounding this controversy, it’s useless unless something MORE happens other than a firing. Personally I would have kept him on the air and forced his upcoming shows to discuss race relations in America but that’s me.

Unless something MORE happens, this was just an event. Another drop in the bucket. (I don’t hear too many people talking about Michael Richards too much anymore).

Catalysts cause change. Not events.

So the next step is for Mr. Sharpton and Mr. Jackson (the default leaders for African Americans) to direct the protest to our own. Let me give you some places to start.

BET. Record Companies. Distributors. Radio stations. Programming directors and any other entity or person responsible for allowing degrading material to be released to the public.

I found out about Imus’ firing while driving home from work yesterday. I flipped on my XM satellite radio about to turn to a news station to hear more. When the radio first came on, it was on the hip hop station that I last listened to. The song that was playing…..

Do the Heisman on that Ho. (I guess that’s the title but I know for sure it was the chorus).

I turned the radio off.

We have a LONG way to go.

~ by alwaysfunkyfresh on April 13, 2007.