Truth is this post took some true revving up, gearing up, umphing up, to prepare. See, I'm not exactly sure how this post will play out. You might totally hate me afterwards, you may think I'm crazy, you might actually agree with me, and if so, you need some help, maybe.
This post is about the uproar over Imus. Imus the 'shock jock' who said a few things, recently, that have the country's media outlets going crazy. His statements got the attention of Al "pimpy" Sharpton and Jesse "jigga" Jackson. Funny thing is his statements really didn't bother anyone I know, at all. We found his statements to be sorta funny, kinda tired, but in a shoulder shrug way, on point.
Imus and a sidekick offered up commentary relating to the Women's NCAA Basketball Championship game. The game offered the Univ. of Tennessee vs. Rutgers Univ. Tennessee has a squad of average looking girls and a few 'stars' such as Candice Parker (damn good looking girl!). Rutgers, on the other hand, has a less attractive group of chicks. Lets call them ugly. No big deal. However Imus pointed this out by saying Rutgers girls were:
"NAPPY HEADED HOS".
--- and he's not wrong. In the living rooms of many many people, regardless of color, the same distinction could have been made, easily. The Rutger's women aren't attractive. To call them NAPPY HEADED, might not be far from the truth....
However, what is bothering me is that Al Sharp and Jesse J, along with others, are calling for Imus head, trying to get him fired, and stirring a 'race' pot of hate that doesn't jibe with me. I had no idea "Nappy Headed" had become the newest of the new "N" words. Imus didn't say Nappy Headed Nigger Hos. He also didn't mischaracterize what he saw on the floor. The Rutgers girls have tattoos, he mentioned that, the Rutgers girls arent very appealing 'looks wise' so he called it like he saw it "bunch of nappy headed hos".
Ok, its not nice to say something like that, but I'm sick of people trying too hard to be nice in this country. If you are a nappy headed ho and someone mentions it, BIG DEAL, own up to it, be yourself in all your nappyness. If someone walks up to me today and says I'm an Afro Wearing Black Dude, or even Afro Wearing Brown Skin Having Black Asshole, hey! They got me right on and I wont go running to the media. HELL if someone calls me the nappy headed dude who works on the fifth floor who always talks on his cellphone.. I'D HAVE TO AGREE and I wouldn't complain or hope that Al Roker's fat ass would step to the plate in my defense.
Imus should not be fired. He shouldn't have to apologize, at least NOT for calling them Nappy Headed. Stupid is as stupid does, ask Pacman Jones.
Somehow this event, this moment, has grown to proportions of an international level event, and I'm sure that when people revisit the Rutgers squad, many will shake their heads thinking 'wow, what a bunch of nappy headed chicks'. NOTE: 'chicks'.
If anything amazes me it is that people are getting so wrapped up in the racism of this case (which isnt there) that no one realizes he called the squad a bunch of HOS (a word that is actually bleeped from radio stations in San Diego). To me, the need to find race at the bottom of statements such as 'nappy headed' when it is a phrase used commonly amongst black people, is hypocritical. Its a black inferiority problem that detracts from true TRUE issues within the black community.
For example, Imus is from Philadelphia. As of this day, Philly is killing at least 1.04 black people per day, PER DAY! But is that worth a national discussion? Is that worth Al Sharpy and Jesse Jacks getting hyped up and walking the streets in protest? Is that worth Today Show coverage? Apparently NOT. See you kill about 1.04 black folks a day and thats, well, thats just Africa.
But if you are white and you say a 'black phrase' like 'nappy headed' then OFF WITH YOUR HEAD WHITEY!!!
Its stupid.
Fact is he called the squad a bunch of Hos (whores) and if anything where are the feminist? Where are the women's groups? I could care less about him calling then nappy headed because they are... or maybe they are just kinky headed.. But calling a group of chicks whores should be the problem here. THAT should be the issue. But then again I forget, to this day race issues and feminist issues are still convoluted, after all, the average white person still believes affirmative action was created for black people, when the truth is it was instituted in order to help white women get a foot up in the work place. But lets not retread that issue.
Peace.
4 comments:
Ricci is again, RIGHT ON with the commentary. Hear! Hear! good man! EXACTLY! Imus is a shock-jock. What..? You can’t "say" anything in the United States anymore..? As John Travolta so eloquently and "classically" once stated: "Bacon is goooood. Pork chops taste goooood.." Well the same applies here. The ladies of the Tennessee basketball team "look goooood." Candace Parker "looks gooooood." The Rutgers women DO NOT look "goooood". And Imus called them on it.
Look, let's face facts.. No red-blooded, healthy heterosexual American male (like yours truly, the Professor) wants to see a bunch of "dykey-lookin", un-feminine girls running around pretending to play basketball like a man. Girls, if you expect me to watch you play ball..LOOK GOOD. No.. LOOK GREAT! be Anna Kournikova. Wear make-up. get implants. hell, you're already in great shape.. Just "bring it on home" and hook up your overall look. Candace parker is exciting to watch because...well.. she's just exciting to "WATCH". As in.. "look at". As in.. look at and fantasize. Oh yeah..and she can dunk too. But, big deal. who care that she can dunk. She looks goooood.
Now should Imus have used the phrase "nappy-headed"? Probably not. But should al Sharpton be in Philadelphia (now known as "Kill-adelphia") trying to stop the culling on young black men by OTHER young black men? Probably so.
All this soap-boxing and fronting is pure unadulterated bullshit. Black folks are killing each other in a way that would make the Ku Klux Klan so proud, that half the Black population could be "waived in" as honorary Grand wizards. And where the F* is Jesse and Al!!
I don’t like Imus..AT ALL. I'm a Howard Stern fan! Imus BLOWS. Personally I'm glad this idiot is being publicly embarrassed. But honestly..I don’t like the principle in which this fool is being castigated. He's a freekin radio dj! it aint like he's goin overseas killing people with machine guns, displacing millions from their homes or causing the civilized world to hate our Country with the intensity of a thousand suns. Imus is just a bigot, just like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, the entire State of Georgia, the entire State of Mississippi, the entire State of Alabama, too many parts of the Northeastern U.S., the entire Republican Party and those who support it, and fundamentalist religious people (take your pick between christians or muslims). We seem to have no trouble with these folks so why bother with an old-ass dickhead like Imus..?
I hear ya loud and clear Professor! I've also been reading since preparing my post and am now pissed that people are using the following phrase to describe what Imus said: "Saying nappy headed is akin to calling the team jiggaboos".
NO.
NO.
NOOOO! it is NOT.
Calling me BLACK is not akin to calling me Nigger.
Hell calling me NIGGA is not akin to calling me NIGGER.
Calling a fool nappy headed is by no means similar to calling someone a phrase that is/was a phrase solely used as a racist term i.e. jiggaboo.
The people who make such comparisons are the same idiots who link cigarettes to cancer and then say 'guns dont kill people, people kill people'. Give me a god damn break.
Jiggaboo is NOT the term Imus used and the people who are bringing that term into the discussion are probably just happy to be allowed to say it without any repercussions.
Lets move forward. Do you realize that until two days ago, I didnt even know Imus was still on the radio? Is that the result these so called social heroes want? Not only is this issue placing Imus on the map, for some people this issue will place Imus on a pedistal.
Congratulations.
If you read the entire transcript of the discussion, Imus' crew brings up the Spike Lee movie School Daze (stupidly referring to it as Do the Right Thing) and saying the game was like the Jigaboos vs the Wannabes. So that term was used... Doesn't change much of what you said about the topic... Totally agree that Sharpton and Jackson are going after the wrong issues. Nice post.
True true Young James, and I guess you could say I wasnt very clear in my comment regarding the term Jiggaboo. I actually knew Imus et al., used the term in relation to the Spike Lee movie, and the truth is, in that context, considering they did cite a source for the word -a black source no less- I have no problem with them using the term. Fact is, if Spike could use it throughout a movie, why cant Imus and crew use it when a similar situation seems applicable. Watching that game was like watching School Daze wannabees vs. jiggaboos.
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