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THE EULOGY BEGINS FOR DON IMUS: Richard Prince asks is the controversy dead?
*You would have to be living under a rock in a remote place in Indonesia not to have heard about the recent controversy between Don Imus and the Rutger's women's basketball team.
Now as the dust has settled over Imus's former radio show with CBS (simulcast over MSNBC) and Rev. Al Sharpton begins to eulogize the embattled disc jockey, we now wonder if an age-old controversy is dead as well.
Will the American people say enough is enough to any area of entertainment and/or media that packages and distributes with the intention to teach our children disrespectful racial and/or misogynistic images and lyrics in a matter-of-fact manner as we teach them their ABC's?
Richard Prince, a leading columnist on matters of race and diversity issues, who writes "Journal-isms" for the Maynard Institute gives great insight on the Don Imus issue because he is what you would call an "inside man." No he doesn't go and make deals with Denzel Washington, but he has his hand on the pulse of issues of race in America.
Prince works on the foreign desk of The Washington Post as a part-time copy editor, is a member of the NABJ (National Association of Black Journalists) where he was a co-editor of the column he now runs independently and he edits the Black College Wire, a project of the journalism departments at historically black colleges.
Lee Bailey was able to catch up with Prince and ask him to weigh in on the Imus situation and its ramifications to our society and culture. The central issue though is what was on people's minds when Imus made his remarks. In other words, why did the shock jock's "nappy-headed hos" comment resonate so deeply?
"What people seem to be saying is that while Don Imus has insulted people over the years and as people have tried to call him to account before, this time his targets were people who were not public figures and had done nothing whatsoever to deserve this and that's what I think did it for most people," said Prince. "These were not public figures as I said, they're not professionals, they're not even fully adults. Yes, he's said ugly things about Venus and Serena Williams and all kinds of people, but they were not college kids. Many of whom were just college freshman who were just trying to do a job, play basketball and their studies."
Imus's controversial remarks were penetrating on such a multifaceted platform that it demanded the attention of the nation, not just the basketball team. But with music and entertainment being the most instrumental vehicles of positive and/or negative communication, they have to answer as well.
"It had the elements of sexism and racism and diversity issues came to the fore as well, and it's just been a lot in the air with the discussion of the "n" word … people talking about the language used by rappers that's been building for a while," Prince reminds us. "There was just that documentary 'Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes' that talked about some of this. A lot of this has been building, building," he said. "…You may recall at the James Brown funeral Al Sharpton was there and Michael Jackson was there and Sharpton told Michael Jackson that 'James Brown was disgusted with what's happening in music today, 'n' word this and the 'b' word and all this and he wanted to be sure to pass along to you Michael, that you'll do your best to help clean this up.' And that was just (recently), so as I say, a lot of this has been building and all those things came together in those few little words that Imus uttered."
An interesting upside to this bombshell is the unity that African Americans exhibited in the wake of this issue. It gave young people an opportunity to see the unity of our leaders, young and old, come together in a way most had not seen in their lifetime.
"It galvanized a lot of people and it brought some things to the table. I just hope it all doesn't just fade away because I've already heard some talk among some people who think that 'Yeah okay, the story is over we can go back to other things or move on to other things. In fact, I recall that the day that he was fired from CBS radio was also the same day that the Duke Lacrosse case was dismissed," said Prince. "And a lot of newspapers, particularly tabloids had to make a choice between which one they would go with and I know in New York, it was interesting. One tabloid went with the Duke Lacrosse case with the implication that okay it's time to move on this is a much juicier story let's move pass this, people are tired of Imus and the other said, 'Let's go with Imus.'"
The issue as it pertains to the nation's politics may be instrumental for the careers of several key officials. For a presidential candidate at this time, having your say on this issue could catapult the campaign into another stratosphere totally. African Americans seemed to wait with urgency for Barack Obama's response, but never expected Condoleeza to weigh in.
"This was also a good test for the presidential candidate. I know when I saw…people like John McCain just shrug it off and say 'well he apologized, what more do you want?' I mean, that said a lot to me as his position on any number of policy issues," said Prince. "By contrast, Barak Obama, who at first issued a very lukewarm statement, finally did say, 'Hey they're talking about my daughters. Anybody that worked for me who ever said something like that would be out the door.' And an unexpected response from the Bush cabinet came from Condoleeza Rice and Prince noted that she "minced no words."
Her quotes are listed on Prince's site from another news source:
"I'm very glad that there was, in fact, a consequence. I think that this kind of coarse language doesn't belong anywhere in reasonable dialogue between reasonable people."
"The young women that he targeted were fine athletes trying their best. It gets ruined by this disgusting -- and I'll use the word 'disgusting' -- comment which doesn't belong in any polite company and certainly doesn't belong on any radio station that I would listen to," she added. Asked how she handled racist, sexist comments directed her way, Rice laughed and replied: "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. And I really don't care because, you know, I'm a mature woman."
But for African Americans, this issue is one, as all others of this tone, that can't just fall by the wayside. Americans, as a whole, may be confronting the issues for some time to come…whether they like it or not.
"We had the largest amount of hits to our Web site on Monday [April 9, 2007], so I guess there was a great deal of interest in it. In terms of largest amount of hits, Ed Gordon when he lost his job at NPR, and that commentary "Why I Hate Blacks," by Kenneth Eng which appeared in Asian Week…I think this one has more of an impact on society than the other two have because it goes out to some pretty fundamental things," said Prince. "There are so many shock jocks who are in this Imus mode. There's the basic issues of what are the airwaves for which was the basis for the NABJ getting involved and then the larger issue of what kind of culture do we have? How coarse is this culture becoming that speaks to what is happening in the music, what's happening in movies, what's happening in our conversations with each other and what we're willing to tolerate and speak up about."
Some may wonder, especially Imus supporters, that if we live in the land of free speech, what is going to happen to this real and basic right.
"I don't think there's any threat to free speech. I think that free speech has always been something that comes with responsibility. Imus is free to say whatever he wants, it doesn't mean that people are obligated to give him a platform for it though. I think that's the distinction," he confirmed. "It's the same with all speech, when you're on the public airwaves it's one thing and when you're sitting at home with your friends, it's something else. And I think that's one of the lessons that can be drawn from this. There's such a thing as public discourse and what rules should cover that and we should recognize that. There's certain things you say at home or among your friends, and other things you say in public. But that distinction seems to have been lost in the last couple of decades."
The rap community is also feeling the heat, but this isn't a new issue for them. Even Oprah has had an intellectual spar with Ludacris on her show over the "N" word and its place in rap lyrics. It seems things always results in a stale mate or a 'Let's agree to disagree' conclusion. But what now? Is the heat all the way up now that Imus has gotten the boot or will most begin to agree with Snoop Dogg's commentary of last week: "[Rappers] are not talking about no collegiate basketball girls who have made it to the next level in education and sports. We're talking about ho's that's in the 'hood that ain't doing sh--, that's trying to get a ni--- for his money."
Prince chimes in on this issue with the rappers, so that we can see the management of the matter that rappers don't control.
"The rappers are not licensed by the FCC. They're not using vehicles that are licensed by the FCC, which is one reason why they put out radio versions of some of the offensive stuff because it goes over public airwaves," he explains. "That's why there's that version instead of just one version where anything goes that they think the radio stations can play. So that's one distinction. Secondly, Imus knows better," he laughs. "Now the rappers may know better also, but this is coming out of his mouth and he's 66 years old and there's that difference. A third difference is that a lot of the rappers aren't really in control of their own product whereas Imus is. A lot of rappers have to go through record companies and one of the points that were made in that documentary ('Beyond Beats and Rhymes') was that a lot of the rappers who would prefer to be expressing positive thoughts or positivity, as they say, are not being offered record deals. They want them to go in the other direction. And so as a result, what the public hears is the other type of rap instead of rap that talks about things that are more positive. In the end, it's up to you to govern what comes out of your own mouth, so that works in both cases but there are an awful lot of differences. And I think that while we should be concerned about both, you really can't compare the two situations."
Did anyone notice Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton's role in all of this? People may have thought that they were trailblazers on the Imus controversy at the end of the day because they began to receive the most fanfare inside the media. Their popularity during the controversy resulted in the audience delving into the lives of the two civil rights icons.
"I think that it's unfortunate that it happened. First of all, they didn't start the whole thing, they followed. I think NABJ came out one day, Friday (04-06-07), then Sharpton came out the next, Saturday, then Sharpton kept being invited on all these shows, then it became Sharpton and Jackson got most of the attention. Which was good in one way, but not so good in another because it then became all about whether you liked Sharpton or Jackson and not about the issue," Prince noticed. "That's what a lot of people have reduced it to. Well how can Sharpton say this when this that and the other and how can Jackson say this when we all know about Jackson did this that and the other. And that became a diversion and it also obscured the fact that there were other people, such as journalists, who raised this issue before they did and they viewed this as an issue solely of what's appropriate on the airwaves and without all the baggage and whether or not you like or dislike Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. And the other thing about that, is that there were people of all races who complained and by focusing so much on Sharpton and Jackson it tended to make this an issue of African American vs. white men."
Many people weighed in and were willing to fight for the injustice committed, but were not given the mic, so to speak. Prince speaks of one in particular that was very important.
"I mean here's the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for example, they came out right after we did with a statement, a strong statement of their concern about this and said he should be fired, but I didn't see that anywhere. And how many Latinos do we have in this country? I did run, first a comment from the president Rafael Olmeda, and then following that they issued their own statement which I just have a link to. But the fact that they presented a Latino perspective on all this given that there are more Latinos than African Americans in this country, I mean, it should've been worth something. Reaching for the easy voices is fine to a point, but it obscures the fact there's a lot of other people that are concerned about this too. And particularly with the white women, it obscures the fact that this is about sexism not just racism... And nobody knew about the white men who also thought that Imus should go and the white women and the Hispanic and the Asian Americans and native Americans. We do have allies in other groups and sometimes that needs to be emphasized…"
If you want to know more on the issues of race and diversity in the news from Richard Prince, he is at the Maynard Institute and his column can be accessed at:
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/dickprince/
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