In the midst of a storm

As we on the East coast of the US sit in the midst of tremendous weather the perfect storm and confluence of racially loaded subjects await us for examination.

We have the Imus/Rutgers - Knappy headed Hoes controversy- One of my favorite sports/social writers Mike Lupica, who is a sports writer and a novelist who does mix in e social ramifications in to his stories. Today he raises the issue of how he thought the issue would be solved by the meeting between the Rutgers women’s basketball team and Imus. In addition he points to the media and public's need to rush to judgment. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2007/04/15/2007-04-15_rush_to_judgment_is_nothing_new.html

I believe that we must examine the root cause of the decay in what we as a people deem socially acceptable. I saw the Rutgers team that won during their run through the NCAA tournament. I did not pay to much attention to Rutgers during the regular season perhaps catching one or two of their games against a better quality ranked opponent that the networks felt deserved the attention. In the NCAA tournament they played the Duke women’s team, ranked as the #1 overall seed. While Duke's game was off, in sports you can't make excuses, the Rutgers women played a style and speed that stymied Duke's ability to play and dictate the game. They displayed all the grace and style that does make the women’s game appealing, no showboating or chest thumping of the me first variety. At no time did race ever play a factor although I was rooting against the Rutgers team and hoping the Duke women would pull it out. Rutgers after the Duke win, would continue on in the tournament to beat Arizona State and LSU convincingly before falling to a very good Tennessee team that is very poised to be in a good place to repeat next year.

In this day and age of winning means everything and the journey means nothing, where if the Yankees make it to the World Series and lose and the season is considered a waste, we are losing sight of the fact that much can be learned by "how we get there". Rutgers and the state of New Jersey, which never gets respect, were very happy and pleased to be in the NCAA Championship game.

The Rutgers ladies carried themselves with poise and were on top of their world. Being in the Championship game means that you can really utilize it to help you recruit better. The same way that the Rutgers football team hopes to capitalize on their run last year the Lady Knights hope to use the momentum from this years run to help get more skilled women to help catapult them to being a consistent winner in the NCAAs. This season was a marked accomplishment and one to be proud of and taken wherever they might go in their life after college.

There are many "one shining moments" in college basketball.... Rutgers Basketball lost theirs when Imus called them "knappy headed hoes" in an off the cuff comment. Not even sensing the grit and determination that it takes for a team to go through the season overcoming whatever obstacles there may be and achieve the level of success that the Lady Knights did is something they will have forever and has now been tainted by bringing them back down in to the muck and mire of race relations. Were the Tennessee women that much better looking than the Rutgers women? Are looks a gauge for how we do our jobs? Is race?

Now to my original point, besides the fact that Imus has stolen a moment of glory form these women is one thing. That these women are now receiving death threats brings it to a whole new level.

Imus works on radio; it is a privilege and a job. As such and keeping in mind that the radio station that Imus works for is dependent on the FCC to continue operating it behooved its management to examine the basis for continuing their relationship with Imus or releasing him. Factor in the way the media blew the issue up ad the sponsor and advertisers did not want to be associated with Imus ad were pulling their ads and it was an easy decision to make. This will not kill Imus's career by any stretch of the imagination.

Accountability is the word I think of most. A man must be held accountable for his actions. There are only so many times you can say "I'm sorry". Too often in the shock jock world it is the expectation to hear outrageous things... it is a fine line between outrageous and morally offensive. That s why when such comments are carried over the public broadcast waves the issue becomes more than just Imus meeting with Rutgers to apologize and say that he is really a "nice guy". We as a people must stand behind what we feel is right. Too often these days we sit silent on topics we feel strongly about. The corporate backers of Imus who pulled their sponsorship did not want to be associated with the issue, and in turn the people who employed Imus got the message and released him from employment. These same corporations also produce hip hop and rap albums containing similar if not worse filth and language.

I have heard arguments’ saying why should we care what Imus says if the rappers say far worse in their portrayal of the black urban experience. Was it almost 20 years now that KRS ONE said that he "didn't walk this way to portray... or reinforce stereotypes of today... like all my brothers eat chicken and watermelon... talk broken English and drug selling... “One man one voice... has anything changed?

Today is the day we celebrate Jackie Robinson for putting up with a lot of garbage on the road to integration... the man who broke the barrier.... before Rosa Parks made her stand there was Jackie... paving the way for all sports.... in fact Jackie Robinson broke the barrier before MLK came along with his much vaunted peaceful assault on a segregated world. What would he think? Has anything changed?

For me I was not alive during the hardship... I thought Warren Moon at Quarterback was a given, not until this past weekend did I learn that he was the first African American QB. Now growing up white the single most abhorrent word for me was the N word... thems was fightin' words and it was never ever used in my household by anyone. So today yes it actually sickens me that I hear this word bandied about with such casualty that it numbs people to it. Money will dictate what is acceptable sometimes... in the Imus case, the large corporations and advertisers wanted nothing to do with being liked to such statements and withdrew their support. Imus's radio station recognizing the furor after a week and realizing the monetary bottom line fired him. However it happens it was the right thing to do. Social action doesn’t happen overnight. It took a week for the voices to be heard. I am not a fan of the Rev Al and do occasionally believe that both Sharpton and Jessie Jackson latch on to some issues for the sensationalistic aspect. This was not one of those times.

Let us continue to examine the issues and actually look at the music industry and realize, that everyone has the right to free speech. Imus exercised his on the public airwaves. A person going to the music store and purchasing an album or downloading is making a conscious decision to do so and supporting the companies and artists who use the medium to get the message out. I remember back in the 80s when Tipper Gore was trying to crack down on the evil lyrics in heavy metal. We speak no different now about rap. Let us examine the causes of why the lifestyle lends itself to the N word and subjugation of women ad the drug running gun toting lifestyle. The American dream was not to grow up drug dealing or being a good baller.... that being the only way out of the hood? Is that what we have come to? Are there no alternatives? I look at the Rutgers Lady Knights and saw women who were using athletic scholarships to get an education and do something with their lives. Along the way they sacrifice countless hours in the classroom and on the court to become young women getting ready for an adult life in our society. To be casually slapped down in their pursuit... makes me ask on question? Has anything changed?

Jackie Robinson would be angry at the usage of the N word by his own people. That society has left the African American male little recourse except using what he knows which is basketball and hip-hop to get ahead... please pardon me for such blanket generalizations but it does need to be said... it is a miracle that any black male grows up even with a relatively "normal" outlook on life in America, to be a law abiding citizen and make money doing hard work. All pictures we see are of the "lifestyle", big pimpin... is it any wonder that Pacman Jones threw around thousands on a stripper stage after seeing one of his idols do the same thing, when anyone with a normal perspective would have banked the money or at the very least would have ad the common sense to realize that if I throw money at a stripper on stage it is hers?

We are eating our own... a dream of playing basketball is exactly that... a dream except for the few, the minority, that small percentage of the gifted... how many kids take a scholarship dreaming only to have their hopes fall flat? How many don't take advantage of the system that is taking advantage of them while also reaping an economic windfall... look up how much money was made by the NCAA teams last year. Yes I know that money also goes to other athletic programs and benefit many other students... but can we actually call them student/athletes anymore? What classes did Greg Oden take his freshman year? What were we preparing him for; did he have a class called "what to do with your millions when you hit the NBA"? Will he be prepared if he blows out his knee in his rookie year and can never play again? Who is using who? Has anything changed?

The Duke lacrosse players were just declared innocent in a case with such emotional pain on both sides it makes you shudder. A young black woman accused three white boys.... of rape... and the prosecutor in his zeal or absolute incompetence absolutely mangled the case. Rape is the most under-reported crime, and a women is raped every two minutes in the United States so we should not make light of any accusation. But we should let the legal proces do it's work without the sensationalistic grandstanding that we saw in this case. We found the kids in a spotlight of unbelievable proportions you just stood back and prayed it wasn’t true. You prayed that such things didn't happen here in America although you knew that such things occur every day. You thought that Duke suspending the team from playing sucked for the other team members not accused of rape, but knew that having dancers at the party was a boneheaded lapse in judgment. You prayed that the lovely region of Raleigh/Durham would not explode in to a riotous calamity. The end as we all know is not a prettier site, for it just reminds you of the fact that a young women had to live a lifestyle such as that to pay the bills. Has anything changed?

I think that Jackie Robinson would be upset at how little things have changed but proud of what has changed. We never speak about the good things. That prosecutor was so willing to throw his political career away to prosecute a crime that in the old days would have been swept under the rug.

That not just the black community but the white one would find the words used by Imus and the intent (joking or not) so abhorrent that we could rise p and be heard... in person, by blog, by email and other methods... that Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson could speak out on injustices, whether we agree with them or not, and not get beat down by an angry mob or the police.

The thing about Jackie was how he sucked it up and played on.. through all the BS he had to put up with. He quietly soldiered on... even through a war.... the thing is that things have changed... I read that someone said that Jackie would not have let Imus get to him and would have played on. My point is that he, and in turn we do not have to just stand for it. We can call people on it. The decay of basic civility has deteriorated that it is our duty to make some noise in some instances. It is our civic duty as Americans to speak up about injustices.

So has anything changed?