Imus

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.

Lost in the soundbite and controversy of the words he used is the context in which he made the comments. Imus was comparing the players of the Rutgers team with the players of the Tennessee team. Both teams have a majority of African-American players. The Tennessee team tended to be more light-skinned/straighten-hair and the Rutgers team tended to be more dark-skinned/kinkier hair.

Bear that in mind as you read what Imus and his crew said:

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and...

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like... I don't know...

McGUIRK: A Spike Lee thing.

...

ROSENBERG: It was a tough watch. The more I look at Rutgers, they look exactly like the Toronto Raptors.

Translation: dark skin, kinky-hair = scary, repulsive, bad. light skin, straight hair = nice, attractive, good.

And the worst part of it is that he probably has no idea just how hurtful those comments were to those young women, and to other African-American women. For Imus and for many Americans, the racial dimension of their ideas of beauty and worth are so deeply ingrained that they're not even aware of them.