Submitted by shaktinah on Fri, 04/13/2007 - 23:13
I'm hearing people complaining about a double standard/hypocrisy with respect to Don Imus' comments. The argument goes something like this: Imus used the same words that "rappers" use, and they don't get in trouble. So why is it that black men are allowed to say "ho" but when a white man says it all hell breaks loose?
Ignoring for the moment that for as long as power is held predominantly by one group in this country a "double standard" is not a double standard, this debate ignores the central issue. (so what else is new?) What Imus said was wrong, it was racist, even if he had not used the words that he used. It wasn't "nappy-headed hos" that was the problem; it was the judgment that he was making about the women's Rutgers team.