The firing of radio commentator Don Imus, for a sexist and racially charged remark about Rutgers’ women’s basketball team, interested me to say the least. It is obvious Imus made an ill-conceived and inappropriate comment, and having done so, was held accountable.
His firing was influenced by both public outrage and by pressure within the private sector, as corporations threatened to remove their sponsorships. As a business move, I think the decision to fire Imus is understandable. What I don’t understand is the obvious inconsistencies in judging what constitutes hate speech.
Civil rights leaders were enraged enough by one comment to call for a radio host to be fired. On many hip-hop stations, it would be a rarity to find a rap song that isn’t filled with blatant misogynistic, xenophobic or homophobic language. Yet there is no widespread public outcry for these “artists” to be removed from the airwaves. Instead they make millions demeaning women and using racial slurs, stopping occasionally to pose for photo opportunities with many of the same activists who would call for a man like Imus to be fired.
The blatant truth is that as a society we have made allowances for hate, viewing racism and sexism as an acceptable part of minority culture. There is a growing line of thought among today’s leading black thinkers, which holds that groups traditionally not in institutional power, such as racial minorities, are incapable of being racist. It is not uncommon for students on campuses across the country to be taught that reverse racism is nonexistent. Such radical stances are baseless and in many respects perpetuate discrimination.
Earlier this year, Dr. Kamou Kambon, a former professor of Africana Studies at North Carolina State University, addressed a nationally televised conference on Hurricane Katrina media coverage, saying, “We, as black people, are at war … The idea is how we are going to exterminate white people, because that in my estimation is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.” Despite such an overtly hateful message, the professor’s comments received little media coverage, and the issue went unacknowledged by civil rights groups.
Equally ignored is the prevalence of sexist themes in mainstream minority-directed media. Music videos are inundated with nearly naked women, depicted as inferior sex objects, routinely referred to as hoes, sluts and bitches. Meanwhile, violence against women increases nationwide, with a disproportionate amount of the victims being black. Still, these entertainers are not held to the same standard as white public figures.
Not unlike other major issues facing our nation today, racism and sexism must be fought on multiple fronts. In order to eradicate hate in all its forms, we must charge ourselves with the task of identifying it no matter its source and holding all those responsible equally accountable. We must realize the only way to truly eliminate the things that divide us is to come together in the effort.
