Image: Don Imus

 

 “I was thinking how fortunate it was that I had been fired” — Don Imus

 

Heeeeee’s baaaaaaack! Last week Don Imus returned to the national airwaves on WABC/770 AM. In April of this year Imus was eventually fired from his job as radio host after creating a national firestorm by referring to the Rutger’s women basketball players as “nappy-headed hos” amongst other inexcusable phrases. Should he have been rehired so quickly? While this question can be reasonably debated, the original Imus termination cannot. The triple-coated blend of Imus’ inexcusable remarks, his long history of similar unacceptable commentary, and the fact that this so-called “shock-jock” acted as a gateway for our nation’s presidential candidates should have made this question a “no brainer”. But according to polls, half of the country (white Americans to be specific) did not feel the same way. As a result, one man’s job became a national controversy, a brand new reason emerged to blame hip hop, and “Save Imus” websites sprouted up all over the place. After being forced to reflect on the matter, even Don Imus himself now agrees that he should have been fired back in April. But what exactly has this self-reflection period meant for the rest of us?

The Scarlet Letter Myth: One of the greatest social fears in the world of many white individuals is to be labeled “a racist” – even if the label is well-earned and well-deserved. I’ve been told on countless occasions that the “racist” label is a terrible stigma, can be a “career-ender”, and operates like “the Scarlet Letter”. As a result, there is often an almost instinctive Pavlovian reaction on the part of many whites to deny or apologize for any accusation of racial bias. Reactive claims of “PC culture run amok”, “playing the race card”, and desperate searches for any other far-fetched “anything-but-bigotry” explanation are as predictable as another inexcusable Imus crack. As a result, too many people in their almost pathological need to guard against any possible false diagnosis of racial bias end up as bigotry’s biggest enablers and protectors. However, it is time to set the record straight on the racial "Scarlet Letter Myth".

 


The Brighter Side of Bigotry: Should we be surprised that Imus landed on his feet again so quickly? Of course not. As Don Imus begins his new gig, consider the following closer look at some other famous folks spouted off bigoted statements in recent times:

  • Entertainers: Michael Richards, who went on one of the most vitriolic racist rants that you will ever hear this side of a Klan rally, has his career exactly where it was before his remarks: Going nowhere, but still receiving millions in Seinfeld royalties (as he should). Mel Gibson’s drunken and anti-Semitic tirade earlier this year resulted in his very next movie Apocolypto grossing over 100 million all together.

  

  • Police: Mark Fuhrman, former police detective of OJ fame admittedly targeted black men, planted evidence, bragged about the worst police misconduct, and had a particularly strong affinity to the N-word. Despite these chilling and disturbing Mark Fuhrman tape transcripts, he has done quite well for himself: 1) His own account of the OJ case reached #1 on the best seller list; 2) he wrote two additional best-sellers (non-OJ); 3) he is a frequent guest of commentator Sean Hannity for FOX News; and 4) he was also the host of the popular "Mark Fuhrman Show" in Spokane prior to its recent cancellation.

  

  • Politics: Senate Trent Lott (R-Miss.): At a 100th birthday tribute to former Sen. Strom Thurmond Lott said the nation would have been better off had Thurmond won his bid for president as a segregationist Dixiecrat in 1948. Last year in his first election since, Lott won reelection with a whopping 64% of Mississippi’s popular vote!

 

A closer look might reveal that this feared "social stigma" is not remotely close to a “career-ender”, but might more accurately be described as a CAREER ENHANCER when measured in the long run. But what about social shame? There are far greater social consequences erring athletes who play our national pastimes (see Bill Buckner, Scott Norwood) than erring bigots who make our national policy.

The Real Deal on Social Stigmas: 

  • The Real Race Stigma: The greatest social stigma that can affect one’s career in mainstream media and many other professions in America is this: Not being white (and male too). White talk radio hosts are at a great advantage over non-white ones as radio audiences are overwhelmingly white and prefer their news filtered through a “white perspective”. Same for cable news: This study on Imus coverage by “Media Matters” shows that ALL 35 cable news hosts are white and only 6 are female. In other words, there is no career-affecting social backlash against the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, or Glenn Beck, but every aspiring non-white cable news host in the entire country has a built-in social stigma that they can see every morning in their bathroom mirror. 
     

  • The Real Political Stigma: While Lott wins elections in landslide votes, virtually all politicians know full well that fighting institutional racism often amounts to political suicide. Why are politicians so scared to touch our racially-biased criminal justice system no matter how many scientific studies come out each year? Why do politicians rarely broach the racial inequities in our school systems? Why are so many politicians lukewarm about coming out unflinchingly strong about a racial injustice as basic as The Jena 6? Because such actions rarely win elections. There is a price to be paid. The great irony is that you can long for segregation of years past and get reelected, but if you dare fight our current segregated criminal justice and educational systems…

     

  • The Anti-Racist Stigma: For every activist who FIGHTS racism, hate mail and often death threats are simply part of the job description. This is not a surprise, just expected. Just ask ANY activist of any color who regularly battles against bigotry. Fighting racism is always a much lonelier place than spreading it. People who spread it always have sympathizers, always have apologists, and always have great company who believe that they were treated too harshly. People who fight it, especially in the media, EXPECT their career to take a nose dive, and don’t expect for anyone to take up their cause.

  • The Racial VICTIM Stigma: Just how up-side down do social stigmas work? Consider this: shortly after the Imus – Rutgers blowout, and the wife of Don Imus was complaining about all the hate mail that was being received. Was Imus getting too much hate mail? No, the RUTGER’S WOMEN were! Ms. Imus pleaded that it be sent to Imus instead. Now stop, pause, and digest that fact for a second. Imus, the perpetrator wasn’t receiving hate mail, but the VICTIMS were!

 

The Scarlet Letter Myth Revisited: When the reality of "the Scarlet Letter Myth" is realized, the harder it is to work up a great deal of empathy for the whole "racist label" social shame thing. Just the opposite, any stigma associated with bigotry should often be EMBRACED. Shame is often NECESSARY for people to change their ways. Michael Richards, in a candid disclosure of self-reflection remarked that "I need to get into the depths of my being, into the depths of darkness, into the depths of rage and anger, because they are there …I’ve got to do this work."  Don Imus has also called his sports exile a “life-changing experience” and remarked that he would “never say anything in my lifetime that will make any of these young women at Rutgers regret or feel foolish that they accepted my apology and forgave me.” If upheld, this disclosure could have a more impactful effect on his past supporters than many of his critics could ever accomplish. Bottom line: Shame, social stigmas, and concrete consequences against those who publicly espouse bigotry is a very good thing. It brings about introspection, potential personal redemption, and hopefully greater societal change. But a career-ending Scarlet Letter it is not.

Moral of Story: Spew some bigotry and your career will be just fine, and may even be enhanced. Unfortunately, there is a far greater social stigma, backlash, and career consequences attached to a) simply not being white (and often male), b) FIGHTING bigotry, and c) even being a VICTIM of bigotry.  The absurdity of it all should become the spark to start fighting against these very REAL Scarlet Letters. Is an inordinate concern about the exile Michael Richards come at the expense of a possible 22-year sentence for Mychal Bell (see Jena 6)? Are we so focused with “Save Imus” that “Save Darfur” becomes a lost cause? Unfortunately, there is a history of white denial in our country that allows the REAL Scarlet Letters to persist while we focus on imaginary ones. … Our standard operating procedure about honestly identifying and dealing with bigotry is to deny its existence for fear of being wrong. This practice is akin to letting all of our cancer patients die because doctors fear the prospect of going on record with a misdiagnosis. However, when it comes to the disease of racism, a NON-diagnosis is almost always worse than a misdiagnosis. The consistent refusal to identify, discuss, and root out bigotry has far more impactful, harmful, and yes, deadly consequences than any trials and tribulations that Don Imus has ever had to “endure”.
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A Note Personal Thanks: The Imus affair in April not only served as the latest national event to take our country’s racial temperature, but also a personal wake-up call for this author to end a lifetime of yelling at his TV set and enter this strange and vast new virtual world known as the “blogosphere”. As such "The 9 Lives of Don Imus", "Don Imus in 2047", and "How YOU Can Save Hip-Hop" marked the very first three website articles ever written by this author. Since that time, there has been no turning back. For that, a very special thanks goes out to Don Imus, and all those that vehemently fought for his continued employment.