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Some Black Women Outraged, Some Forgiving,
Some Even See a Different Side of Imus</font size></center>
BLACK PRESS USA
by Shari Logan
NNPA Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA)- Offended, passive, forgiving, and degraded are just some of the sentiments shared by Black women around the nation after radio talk show Don Imus called the Rutgers' women's basketball team ''nappy-headed hos.''
''As an intelligent man, he knew that would be offensive'', says Tonya Henderson, a professor of business communication at Howard University. ''He did not know any of those girls or their activities off the court. So why would he choose the term ''˜ho?''
On April 5, Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk began talking to sports commentator, Sid Rosenberg, about the Women's NCAA Championship game between Tennessee and Rutgers. According to MediaMatters.com, which posted a transcript on its site, the ''Imus in the Morning'' conversation escalated until Imus said, ''That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos...
Some hard-core hos,'' responded McGuirk.
''That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know,''
It was the last straw. MSNBC viewers, CBS radio listeners, activists and activist organizations called for the firing of Imus who had become known for his racial slurs.
The day after, Imus apologized for his comments. But, he was fired from MSNBC. He met and apologized to the basketball team. But, CBS also wiped out the show.
The fallout leaves Black women discussing and debating not only the Imus issue, but the portrayal of Black women in day-to-day life.
Henderson continues, ''We just celebrated the 30th anniversary of 'Roots' and we think we came a long way but institutionalized racism still exists.Is that how they still view Blacks? As rough? And Black women as hos? Despite what those girls accomplished?''
Andrea Matthew, a student at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York agrees,
''People like him say those things because they are racist. He was standing next to a person that used the term jigaboo. How old is that word,'' Matthew says.
In the wake of Imus comments, many people blamed the popularity of Hip-Hop music and its usual misogynist lyrics that make up the songs for influencing Imus.
''It is nothing new,'' says Madelyn Mitchell, a parking enforcement official in Washington. Mitchell says Hip-Hop is not the only genre of music that degrades women, from country to rock.
But, Alexis Logan says Blacks too often adopt for themselves what has been intended to be negative.
''We shouldn't claim those words because that is not us,'' says Logan, a first year law student at Howard. ''A 'ho is a promiscuous woman, not a promiscuous Black woman or a promiscuous White woman.''
Despite the fact that Hip-Hop videos feature Black women in scantly clad clothes in which they respond to degrading names, women must control how they allow themselves to be degraded in real life.
''I was taught to answer to nothing other than my name,'' says Matthew. ''I honestly think these girls did not get enough hugs while they were growing up.'' Matthews cites Karrine Steffans, the self-proclaimed' video vixen' who was raped and abused as a child.
''When things like this happen to people, they feel sub-human and that's why they respond to a name equivalent to a female dog.''
Still the record industry makes billions a year on recordings and videos because people are buying them.
''The girls in the videos degrade themselves for fast money,'' says Wanda Henderson, owner of a combined hair studio and barbershop. ''When I was growing up I never thought of stripping or anything that was disrespectful. So I got into doing hair, these girls need to learn a trade and go to school. There is a way to make good money without degrading yourself.''
Not all Black women agree with the furor over Imus.
One mother, 69, thinks the situation is being blown out of proportion and that it is time to move on.
''We must forgive Imus,'' says Georgia Weekes of New York City.
Weekes says that the Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the front men behind the firing of Imus,made a mistake and was forgiven. ''When he had a child outside of his marriage, didn't his wife forgive him?
Weekes' daughter, Sandra Wilkins, a mother of two daughters, and a listener of Imus for about five years agrees. ''We must look at the totality of the man.''
''He is not a racist, he just says insensitive things. When Hurricane Katrina happened, Imus was on his show collecting money and asked politicians what were they doing,'' Wilkins recalls.
The Imus Cattle Ranch for Kids with Cancer in Ribera, New Mexico reportedly has a 10 percent African-American population. Last week, his annual telethon raised more than $1 million for his ranch and four other children charities.
An array of questions will remain in the aftermath of the ''Imus incident.''
Now that he is off the radio, what will happen? Will free-speech suffer? Will women be respected more in pop culture? Will rappers change their language? Will rappers be held to the same standard? Or in a month - will America have forgotten that this even happened?
It's time to take a stand,'' says Henderson. ''We don't need to support them any longer. These guys have more talent and they need to re-write the lyrics as if they were speaking to their mothers.''
Shari Logan is a writer for the Capstone News Network.
http://www.blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=National+News&NewsID=12930
