Posted by
G-Stan on Friday, April 13, 2007 4:53:10 PM
As I ran out of steam yesterday, ranting about the Imus debacle, I finished with a fictional conversation between Dr. Martin Luther King, a magnificent inspirational human being, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, two...human beings. The cultural relevance of Al and Jesse will continue to fade. A new face of black leadership has begun to emerge as the JC Watts, Lynn Swanns, Bill Cosbys and so many others have dared to challenge long-standing racial mores and have said what Al and Jesse, as "leaders", should have been touting for a long time. Seize the responsibility for your own life.
Al and Jesse, the Blues Brothers, have been crying the racism blues for far too long. They are extremely talented at looking down upon the masses they claim to be leading, and assigning blame for any problems those masses may have encountered. They are also very good at coming up with catchy slogans that rhyme. They are terrible at inspiring people to stand on their own and dive head first into the vast ocean of opportunity available to EVERY citizen who desires it. No, instead, they will stand on the beach and point out where they think the sharks are.
Imus is a hermit crab in the ocean of life, not a shark. The RU Basketball got pinched in the collective toe. They may have never even noticed it, were it not for the Blues Brothers and the willingly complicit media shouting "shark" so loudly. They all raced to the water to rescue the defenseless women and dragged them to the shore with such vigor and outrage, that by the time they got to shore, the RU women actually felt as if they actually had been attacked by a shark. How surprising.
What gets lost in this entire ordeal is the fact that these RU women did not have to be victims in this. I would bet that two weeks ago, not one of them knew who Don Imus was. Nor could they have cared less what any of his opinions on any subject were. The shameful media feeding frenzy surrounding this story left them virtually no choice but to insert themselves as active participants in the drama and put forth some kind of response.
"No one has the power to make you feel inferior without your consent." That is such an insightful statement about self esteem. I wish it were mine, but its not. The credit goes to Eleanor Roosevelt.
If only Vivian Stringer had headed those words prior to the press conference in which she led her team.
A few of her remarks from the press conference are as follows (as reported on NYTimes.com):
"I want you to see 10 young women who accomplished so much that we as a coaching staff, as a state university, men, women and people across this nation are so very proud of." You should be proud!
"These young ladies that you have seated before you are valedictorians of their class, future doctors, musical prodigies, and yes, even Girl Scouts." Amen! No one could possibly deny this.
"These young ladies are the best this nation has to offer and we are so very fortunate to have them here at Rutgers University." Yes! Every university should be so fortunate!
"They are young ladies of class, distinction. They are articulate. They are brilliant. They are gifted. They are God’s representatives in every sense of the word." OK, got it. They're wicked awesome. Now where is this leading to?
"We have all been physically, mentally and emotionally spent. So hurt by the remarks that were uttered by Mr. Imus. ...we had to experience racist and sexist remarks that are deplorable, despicable and abominable and unconscionable....So as I felt what Mr. Imus said, I experienced this not only as a coach and as a mom to them but as a person who had also experienced the same kind of hurt. Yes, and I’ve cried and I’ve been angry and disappointed."
Sorry Vivian, you just lost me, and you were so close to reaching the finish line victorious. Are we to believe that the lives of the best women America has to offer could be wrecked by three words uttered by a crusty belligerent old fart to a marginal radio audience? Are we to believe that these obviously exceptional women have such fragile self-esteem and self-worth that they could possibly be ruined by the phrase "nappy-headed ho"? Maybe the 72-hours of continuous reporting on the subject fooled you and your players into entertaining that belief. But if you don't truly believe it, you are being intellectually dishonest. Are we to believe that this comment hit these women over the heads like an anvil dropping on the coyote in a Looney Toons cartoon, when anyone can clearly see by looking at these women and their credentials, that Imus' comment (which was a JOKE, by the way) could no more impact the course of their lives and their sense of self worth than a feather landing on their shoulder.
Ironically, about 1/3 of the way through the press conference Ms. Stringer nearly succumbed to the undeniable wisdom of Eleanor Roosevelt, stating, "but you see we also understood a long time ago that you know what, no one can make you feel inferior unless you allow them. That we can’t let other people steal our joy. We’ve always understood that for a long, long time." But in order to dutifully fit the description of "victim" that Al and Jesse and all the talking heads promised to deliver, she ignored the wisdom and curled up in the fetal position. And allowed, or maybe even encouraged, 10 impressionable young ladies to do the same. She also cheated us all, black, white or otherwise, out of the press conference that we wanted and deserved to hear. It would have gone something like this:
"Hi, my name is Vivian Stringer, coach of the RU women's basketball team. Recently Don Imus referred jokingly to my players as "nappy-headed hos." It was a stupid joke and not even worthy of any response by either myself or my girls, however, since all of the talking heads in the media have been slobbering all over themselves and can't stop talking about how we feel, we have decided to hold this press conference and put to rest any questions about how we feel. Number 1, who the hell is Don Imus? I've never heard of him, nor have any of my players. We've never met him, nor do we have any desire to. We don't know why he felt compelled to make this team the brunt of his thoughtless joke, but we have heard that his show and his personal popularity are fading, so perhaps he thought that using a bit of modern hip hop terminology at the expense of some ladies he knew would not be listening might help his ratings. Given the fact that he is now unemployed, it appears that his strategy was a little short-sighted. Number 2, we are NOT victims. Look at these girls standing behind me. They are brilliant, talented, exceptional young ladies who attend one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the country and they are excelling both academically and athletically. They are far too strong to have let the insensitive comment of one insignificant radio host to have an impact on their lives. We have been far too busy celebrating and preparing for next season to really give it much credence. Plus, he was just making a joke wasn't he? He should really check out his own hairdo in the mirror before making jokes about others. Doesn't he have a mirror in his bathroom? Anyway, look at my girls, all of them have wonderful hair; and they all told me that they are still virgins. So they are not in danger of becoming nappy-headed hos anytime soon. (Yes its ok to make jokes at a time like this. It helps to diffuse the problem instead of inflaming it with angry rhetoric.) Well, that's all the time we have for this press conference, my girls must get back to furthering their education so that they may always be in control of their own goals for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. By the way, not that it is any of your business, but we have spoken to Mr. Imus directly and he did offer us an acceptable apology."
All of this drama over a 3 word joke. Have we truly lost the ability to laugh at ourselves? I'm saving the answer to that for Monday....to be continued.