For some reason I feel compelled to express my views on neo-racism and the recent controversy: Imus is one thing, but racism is another. His firing was about the (shallow) overreaction the rest of the news media generated. Too much bad PR was created by Imus so they fired him. The race issue is separate from him as a person/broadcaster. There is a racism and prejudice issue in America and his words simply brought the skeletons out of the closet and into the hollywood-news spotlight. The significance of his words probably can only be truly understood by young black women and parents of young black women. The history of black people in America can't be ignored, his words were indicative of the type of racism that people fear today. Black women have been through a very overt and absolute struggle to get to this era of equality-in-theory, so the issue of contemporary racism must be acknowledged and addressed in an informed and serious manner. The word nappy is very significant and the expression 'ho' is very significant for other reasons. Every black parent probably has the deep down anxiety that no matter how successful their daughter becomes, she will be afflicted by the kinds of prejudice that Imus displayed. As a young black female walks into the boardroom of her superiors, will somebody be thinking 'nappy-headed ho'? This whole Imus issue has been looked at in great detail by the major news networks, but the real underlying issue is brushed aside because its bad for ratings. I can understand why people were so offended by his words but I can also understand why some people feel the reaction to his words has been too harsh and overstated. But its important to differentiate the overreaction issue from the racism issue.
Yes. Racism is bad. I'm just sick of seeing one kind of it being given media attention and being excused as normal by the media, while another time is blown out of proportion and vilified by the media. Honestly, if people want white people to stop thinking of black girls as nappy headed hos, then black women and black men should stop CALLING them nappy headed hos in the media.
For example, just take a look at one of the videos that was linked to in another thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD5WlQ54Sg0 How many times does the rapper use the word 'nigger'? Of course, I guess the rapper could be white. But what are the probabilities on that?
I think racism is wrong but it is blown out of proportion most times. People like Jesse Jackson can say anything they want about whites and that is ok because he a poor victim (very rich one) but if one thing is said in reverse; it is an all media attack. We should face the fact that racism sales the news and people tune in to see someone taken down for making a comment. As far as this: To be taken serious in big business, a young black woman would not wear her hair like that, just like a white man would not wear his in a hippy style or a pony tail. IMO
It seems that your problems is more with how the news media pumps up a story, and I agree with you about this. But this media-hype shouldn't be used to downplay the underlying issues, the media is just opportunistic in its reporting.
All issues are hijacked by the media these days, I agree with what you are saying. Just because the folks on TV make a big deal about celebrities saying bad words, it doesn't justify the statement "blown out of proportion most times". Racism doesn't happen on TV, it happens in peoples lives and minds. Calling someone a nappy-headed-ho has got nothing to do with a womans hair. You should look deeply into the statement you made about how black women should not wear their hair naturally. Just think about it. If you are religious then maybe look at it from that perspective too. Maybe you should read about the historical significance of the word nappy (relating to hair) too.
My original post said: The issue of contemporary racism must be acknowledged and addressed in an informed and serious manner. You posting statistics about the modern crime rates without any insight is not informed or helpful. All over the world, any particular race/religion that has been repressed by countries in the past will show the effects of that repression for many generations.