Almost a year ago now, Don Imus made his name known world wide instantaneously by making that outrageous racial/sexist (don’t know the proper from of the word to use here) slur against the black members of a Rutgers ladies sports team. Not surprisingly, it generated almost immediate and vast media coverage. Much of the coverage was expressing genuine outrage, some small portion may have been expressing outrage because they wanted to gain favor with the black community, some using the opportunity to extract the gender portion of the slur (he did call them ‘hos’) to voice their outrage not only against the racial implications, but to make sure that the gender overtones we not missed. And, sad to say, but yes, probably one or two voicing their glee that someone said something that awful on the air. No matter what their viewpoint, almost everyone heard about it almost immediately and almost continually until the furor died down after Imus was fired.
What do you think the flavor of the Sermon was on the following Sunday in black churches across the nation? It would almost certainly involve opening the container of all the suffering from their long history of discrimination. And there is not a thing in the world wrong with that. Our black brothers and sisters have paid the price, they do indeed have the right to remember the sins of the past and pay their respects to their forefathers and mothers who far too often paid the ultimate price. Allow us to join in the celebration of these true Hero’s, at least those of us who sincerely wish to.
I am sure also that there was a lot of anger vented in most of those black churches over the incident. And that would have been OK too, had the emotions are brought back under control before being unleashed on the public.
But there is one concept that was almost certainly not even thought of. The concept I am referring to is that the entire episode should have been viewed as one more verification that the war has been won, the war that Dr. Martin Luther King gave his life for. Phew, heavy statement, not even thought of. Perhaps there were a few isolated souls in our nation who had the thought, but during that angry storm of outrage swirling around everywhere, they surely would have kept quiet about it.
I believe even Dr. Martin Luther King foresaw this sort of problem when he said: “But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” (Link)
“I Have a Dream” is one of the most powerful speeches ever made in our nation’s history, it was delivered on August 28, 1963, not quite 45 years ago, at the Lincoln Monument in Washington DC. Go to that link, re-read the entire text, please, even better if you can manage the time, watch the video, it is less than 20 minutes, and well worth the time.
Warning: Incendiary statement follows!!!
I contend that every aspect of Dr. King’s dream has been fulfilled, except his Biblical reference to the End Times. Re-read that speech closely, look at what he is dreaming about, watch the video, hear the crowd murmur their agreement with his key points. I contend that Dr. Kings dreams have been fulfilled, that the war has been won, and that episodes like the Don Imus case should be viewed as victories. I contend that the laws have been passed and/or modified, that do truly give those very rights that Dr. King gave his life fighting for to not only black people, but all people in the United States, regardless of racial or ethnic origin. Thank you Dr. King.
I will grant you that there are still racists out there, and that racism does still exist. That is because racism is a matter of belief, it resides inside individuals, the same personal one on one basis you referred to Doj. We can not legislate the beliefs away, nor can we wish them away. They will only go away when the individual chooses to let them go.
No government can regulate the belief’s of it’s citizens, can we say Mind Control. A government can, however, regulate the actions of it’s citizens, it can pass laws making it illegal to discriminate against a person because of race, refuse a loan to a person because they are black, and so on. The United States of America has, I contend, done an outstanding job of guaranteeing those basic rights to all citizens. This is a direct result of the civil rights movement, and as such, in part, a result of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
Dr. King did not ask for racism to end, he asked to “cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.” I believe he realized the futility of trying to eliminate racism, choosing to focus instead on the results of racism, the basic rights that were being denied to blacks simply because of the color of their skin. Those results were indeed within the capability of government to control, to eliminate, if the government chose to do so.
Enough of the citizens of the USA heard those words, and were able to comprehend their validty and truth, that, over the following years our government did amend the laws and pass new laws, did what was necessary to guarantee that no citizen is discriminated against because of his race.
Dr. King and the other Civil Rights leaders of his time, essentially created a large Weapon of Mass Destruction. That weapon consisted of a huge army of people willing to stand in the heart of our government and call them to task. It was an army that would not be scared off by threats of violence, and army that proved they were willing to pay even the ultimate price in pursuit of equality.
As effective as their WMD was, and it was very effective, the WMD was not what led to the profound and long lasting changes that have occurred in our society. What had the most profound impact was the validity and truth of his message. The WMD was necessary to get enough people’s attention. But it was the truth of the message, the indisputable fact that although we proclaim that “all men are created equal” all men were NOT being treated equally in our great nation. That indisputable reality is what produced the sweeping and lasting changes in our nation.
Following the Imus slur, there was an explosion of words denouncing the slur, and of course repeating it for any who may have missed it. The words quickly became emotional, provoking emotional responses, leading to more emotional responses. For the duration of the event, a little over a week, everywhere we turned we saw an update on the situation, the latest in the now emotionally charged rhetoric, and yes, the fact that Imus was fired was made public and the furor then died down.
Why? Why did we subject ourselves to a week of explosive emotional rhetoric? The issue, though a horrendous racial slur, was really a minor, insignificant, easily dealt with issue. An idiot broadcast an unacceptable statement to whomever was listening, he deserved to be punished for it, and he was. What portion of Americans believe he should have been able to say what he said without punishment? Though the number may be disappointingly high, as long as it is not as large as 50% plus one, it does not matter.
That explosion of emotion may have served a positive purpose as a device to force and/or speed the appropriate actions (punishment) to be taken. Perhaps. But it would not have touched the root cause of the problem. The root cause has nothing to do with race, nor has it anything to do with any lofty ideals. The root cause comes straight down to money. Imus, together with Howard Stern and a few others, have created a new category of media personality’s known as ‘shock jocks.’ Their highly publicized intent is to push the envelope, say and do the most outrageous things they can possible get away with, shock their listeners. We have rewarded them for their creativity by listening to them, listening in large numbers. The numbers give them the advertisers, more outrageous comments and actions bring them more listeners, which brings them more money.
Did the explosion of rhetoric bring any positive results, any lasting changes? Not much, if any. Imus is back at work, different network now, but still a shock jock, still trying to top Howard Stern. Did it prevent such an outrageous slur to appear on the media again? I seriously doubt it, if nothing else, the shock jocks are still at it, still pushing the envelope, still trying to get as close to that line as they can. I have complete confidence that they will cross that line again, so we will all have the opportunity to go through another couple of weeks of turmoil.
I will point out one result that the explosion of rhetoric did absolutely produce, a rather negative result. It brought anger and resentment back to the surface, giving everyone an opportunity to bring out their favorite prejudices and take them for a walk. Those whites who believed so already, could say “yep, the N words are still at it…” And those blacks who believed so already could say “yep, whitey is still at it…” That near feeding frenzy in the media did nothing at all to help them change their racist thinking. It simply provided one more validation that nothing has changed, the XXXXX’s are still as bad as always.
What if, in response to the Imus slur, the entire black community had done nothing more than say simply, as calmly as possible, that they are outraged at this racial slur. What if there had been no explosion of inflammatory denouncements at all, replaced instead with a few unemotionally worded statements denouncing the slur? Would the outcome have been different, would Imus still have been fired, would he still have been hired a few months later by a competing network, where he is broadcasting today? We will never know.
Was it worth it? Yes, worth it, because there was a price paid for that all of that turmoil. The price was paid by prolonging the emotional suffering of the victims of that slur. It was paid by the emotional suffering of numerous blacks, who where shown this slur, and who, naturally, shared the pain of a slur against their race. The price was paid by whites, including old farts retired and living in Thailand, who had to ask themselves again, how did we get to the point where something like this could be said on the air. And the price is being paid in the form of increased or more solid hatred by the haters of blacks and whites. Was it worth it?
Yes, I contend that the war is won, I contend that even if the explosion of anger had been toned down that the same result would have occurred, Imus would have still be nailed for his outrageous behavior. And we would not have had to pay nearly as high a price.
I contend that that war is won because I truly believe that the vast majority of Americans do believe those words from the Declaration of independence, “ALL men are created equal” represent a core value of our society, one which they would fight literally to death to support. It wasn’t always that way, absolutely not. And I can’t tell you when we finally reached that point, but I can tell you that I truly believe we have reached it somewhere in the last 45 years.
The only way we can ever hope to eliminate or even significantly reduce the racial prejudices that exist in this country, is to stop bringing out the big guns, the weapons of mass destruction, until and if they are proven to be needed. Let ‘the system’ or ‘the establishment’ belly up to the bar and either do the right thing because it is the right thing, or not. If not, I am confident that there are enough people who do believe it is the right thing, and equally confident that those people have enough relatively mild weapons in their arsenal, maybe talk of a boycott of advertisers if appropriate steps were not being taken, or not being taken fast enough.
Beating up racists in the media for 45 years has not made racism go away, nor do I believe beating them up for another 45 years will make it go away. In fact, I am afraid that some elements in our society see these explosions as one sure method of media attention, fair game for those (shock jocks) who strive to be as outrageous as possible. The shock jocks know that if they say the right thing (the wrong thing to most of us) the media will explode, ratings will soar, and they will be the new king of shock jocks, at least for a little while. The shock jocks are only the tip of the iceberg on this score, there are only a few of them. The same concept is well known, and used, by far more than the shock jocks.
For the sake of argument, let us assume for a moment that I am correct in my assertion that the overwhelming majority of Americans agree Imus statement was deplorable and he should have been punished. If this were true, ponder what would happen to a charismatic black leader who changed tactics, and began promoting the idea that the Dr. Kings war had been won, victory had been achieved. What would happen in our society if he were able to convince other black leaders that he was correct. What if the prevailing theme in some black churches were changed from ‘whitey is still holding us down’, to ‘we won, whitey can try, but he can not hold us down any longer.’ Imagine what progress could be made in only say, 4 years, no, make that 3. Now imagine how this utopian black leader would do if he decided to run for president in 2012.
Dr. King and the other leaders of the Civil Rights movement created the first weapon of mass destruction – a huge number of righteously angry blacks willing to die for their rights – and used the weapon quite effectively. It was needed, and we all owe them a debt of gratitude. Their skilled use of the WMD got enough attention, their ethical tactics and eloquence delivered their message, and the truth and validy of that message brought lasting change. They won the war.
So now it is time to put the WMD away, take advantage of the rights and freedoms won. Even with the WMD put away, we know it exists, we know it can be re-assembled if needed, and that is all that is needed. Most of us don’t need the WMD, we know that Dr. King was right. We are outraged at racial slurs because they are wrong, not because there is a WMD in the wings. The war is won.
Let us stop feeding our nation the painful history of racial inequity, and begin feeding it instead the pride of victory. Let us give credit where credit is due. Not only did Dr. King and his compatriots succeed motivating the long process of rendering discrimination as illegal, but they succeeded also in winning the hearts and minds of a great many non-black Americans. It is because of their efforts and sacrifices that today, when an idiot spews out a racial slur on a radio broadcast, it is a ‘no-brainer’ for the overwhelming majority of our nation to immediately conclude that the spewer did wrong and should expect trouble. That, IMHO, spells victory.
RixKix
