IMUS IMUS IMUS.........................

[Legend]

Pennsylvania DJ fired for repeating Imus’ comments as part of contest
LATIMES.COM

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A radio station fired its longtime morning DJ Wednesday after he encouraged listeners to repeat talk-show host Don Imus' racially charged comments in an on-air contest.

Gary Smith told WSBG-FM listeners to call and say "I'm a nappy-headed ho" for Tuesday's "Phrase that Pays" contest, said Rick Musselman, executive vice president of station owner Nassau Broadcasting Partners L.P.

Musselman said three of the listeners who called were awarded tickets to a NASCAR promotion at a local club.

Station management reviewed a tape of the broadcast of the "Gary in the Morning" show and fired Smith, Musselman said.

Musselman said that Smith was fired and not suspended because he uttered the slur in a premeditated manner, "with full knowledge of the reaction to Don Imus' use of the exact same phrase."

The nationally syndicated Imus was suspended for two weeks by CBS Radio and MSNBC after he called members of the mostly black Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Civil rights groups have demanded his firing.

Smith has an unlisted number and could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

WSBG 93.5, a 3,000-watt rock station, is based in Stroudsburg, about 40 miles northeast of Allentown. The Princeton, N.J.-based Nassau is privately held with more than 50 radio stations in the Northeast.

[Realgirls4me]

Thanks, Mike and Quinn for the links. I'll get back to you guys later with my response to them, but right now I just got an appointment lined up with a doctor at the last minute, so I better get there while I can. If you are familiar with our HMO world of medicine here in the states, I'm sure you understand.

As far as Freak goes, I can handle him with half a keyboard. Small potatos, in other words.

[smart]

Its not just Sharpton who believes he should be fired they are a lot of people who believe that. Black and white its about 50/50 according to polls. Imus said these comments on the public airways that belong to everyone.

Not only did he say a racist comment but because he does charity he thinks that excuses him.

Not only did he insult black people and woman but anyone who thinks that it is wrong to do this. You cannot compare him to anyone that does something controversial on a cable show or private radio.

There are rules to public behavior and even though they are not written we all know Imus is wrong. Should he be fired?? That is up to his bosses if they succumb to pressure from outside groups that is up to them.

Do I think he should be fired? Yes and no I could care less but again I do not listen to him and he did not insult me directly. Do I think did he act stupidly? Yes would I want to support him and rally behind IMus hell no.

And if you are behind Imus you got to ask yourself why. If you are saying freedom of speech or expression or art. You are full of shit. Because those comments had nothing to do with that. They were ill conceived by someone that has racism in them. Racism is inbedded in are society, as well as sexism, as well as all the other isms. If you want equal justice for everyone which will never happen. You have to say this behavior is unacceptable this language is unacceptable. What ever the final verdict is on Imus it is tecahing all of America to be careful of what they say about others and how they say it. Poltically correct sometimes is simply showing respect and sensitivity towards others.

Unless you would go up to a mentally challenged individual and call them a retard to their face. Or call a person of another race a derogatory comment just because of their origin. or insult a person because of sexual orientation. Or make fun another bacause of their religious beliefs.
This is not what America is about or freedom of speech is about but yet the right to do these things is protected and Imus did not commit anything criminal under are laws. He has expressed regret and tried to apologize for what he has done. He is trying to take the high road. He could have simply said fuck you freedom of speech bad joke ok forget it but he didn't.
so a 2 week suspension may be justified and enough in the eyes of some but may never be enough for others. the debate will go on which is a good thing. As for how Imus is treated in the press Imus has made a career of bad taste and bullying which appealed to a group of listeners.
If you are a fan of his what does that say of you?

[smart]

Its not just Sharpton who believes he should be fired they are a lot of people who believe that. Black and white its about 50/50 according to polls. Imus said these comments on the public airways that belong to everyone.

Not only did he say a racist comment but because he does charity he thinks that excuses him.

Not only did he insult black people and woman but anyone who thinks that it is wrong to do this. You cannot compare him to anyone that does something controversial on a cable show or private radio.

There are rules to public behavior and even though they are not written we all know Imus is wrong. Should he be fired?? That is up to his bosses if they succumb to pressure from outside groups that is up to them.

Do I think he should be fired? Yes and no I could care less but again I do not listen to him and he did not insult me directly. Do I think did he act stupidly? Yes would I want to support him and rally behind IMus hell no.

And if you are behind Imus you got to ask yourself why. If you are saying freedom of speech or expression or art. You are full of shit. Because those comments had nothing to do with that. They were ill conceived by someone that has racism in them. Racism is inbedded in are society, as well as sexism, as well as all the other isms. If you want equal justice for everyone which will never happen. You have to say this behavior is unacceptable this language is unacceptable. What ever the final verdict is on Imus it is tecahing all of America to be careful of what they say about others and how they say it. Poltically correct sometimes is simply showing respect and sensitivity towards others.

Unless you would go up to a mentally challenged individual and call them a retard to their face. Or call a person of another race a derogatory comment just because of their origin. or insult a person because of sexual orientation. Or make fun another bacause of their religious beliefs.
This is not what America is about or freedom of speech is about but yet the right to do these things is protected and Imus did not commit anything criminal under are laws. He has expressed regret and tried to apologize for what he has done. He is trying to take the high road. He could have simply said fuck you freedom of speech bad joke ok forget it but he didn't.
so a 2 week suspension may be justified and enough in the eyes of some but may never be enough for others. the debate will go on which is a good thing. As for how Imus is treated in the press Imus has made a career of bad taste and bullying which appealed to a group of listeners.
If you are a fan of his what does that say of you?

[freak]

Imus would not have been fired if he was black, that is just as bad as his statement. Also he wouldn't have been fired if he had better ratings, it is about the money. It was a way to get out of a contract.
No he should not have been fired, he should have been warned at the least but fined at the most. What he said was meant to be funny but also to bring attention to the way collages are letting there programs go, one is clean cut and preparing the players for moving on to the business world, the other is just using them to make the school money. No collage should allow players representing them appear to be thugs.

OK now sorry I called Realgirls4me a goldfish, it was a bit harsh. Here is an interview the Rev had on O'Reilly Factor (which who I do not care for)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192277,00.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...03/ai_n8887602
Anyone remember this one from the Rev., Tawana_Brawley, he got people killed in the RIOTS he started http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley

[hondarobot]

Trump and Imus are old buddies. I wonder if they have the same stylist?

Maybe Don King is the stylist? Imus could be projecting his frustration with his unconventional eyebrow grooming on black people in general. This would explain his remarks, but certainly not excuse them.

[blckhaze]

got this in an email

Why 'nappy' is offensive
By Zine Magubane | April 12, 2007

WHEN DON IMUS called the Rutgers University basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed ho ' s" he brought to the fore the degree to which black women's hair has served as a visible marker of our political and social marginalization.

Nappy, a historically derogatory term used to describe hair that is short and tightly coiled, is a preeminent example of how social and cultural ideas are transmitted through bodies. Since African women first arrived on American shores, the bends and twists of our hair have became markers of our subhuman status and convenient rationales for denying us our rightful claims to citizenship.

Establishing the upper and lower limits of humanity was of particular interest to Enlightenment era thinkers, who struggled to balance the ideals of the French Revolution and the Declaration of Independence with the fact of slavery. The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen did not discriminate on the basis of race or sex and had the potential to be applied universally. It was precisely because an appeal to natural rights could only be countered by proof of natural inequality that hair texture, one of the most obvious indicators of physical differences between the races, was seized upon. Nappy hair was demonstrable proof of the fact that neither human physiology nor human nature was uniform and, therefore, that social inequalities could be justified.

Saartjie Baartman, a South African "bushwoman," was exhibited like a circus freak in the Shows of London between 1810 and 1815. The leading French anatomist of the day, George Cuvier, speculated that Baartman might be the "missing link" between the human and animal worlds because of her "peculiar features" including her "enormous buttocks" and "short, curling hair."

In "Notes on the State of Virginia," Thomas Jefferson reflected on why it would be impossible to incorporate blacks into the body politic after emancipation. He concluded it was because of the differences "both physical and moral," chief among them the absence of long, flowing hair.

For a runaway slave, the kink in her hair could mean the difference between freedom in the North and enslavement or worse if she were to be caught and returned to her master. Miscegenation meant that some slaves had skin as light as whites and the rule of thumb was that hair was a more reliable indicator than skin of a person's racial heritage. Thus, runaway slaves often shaved their heads in order to get rid of any evidence of their ancestry and posters advertising for fugitive slaves often warned slave catchers to be on the lookout for runaways with shaved heads : "They might pass for white."

In the late 1960s, after the FBI declared Angela Davis one of the country's 10 most wanted criminals, thousands of other law-abiding, Afro-wearing African-American women became targets of state repression -- accosted, harassed, and arrested by police, the FBI, and immigration agents. The "wanted" posters that featured Davis, her huge Afro framing her face like a halo, appeared in post offices and government buildings all over America, not to mention on television and in Life magazine. Her "nappy hair" served not only to structure popular opinions about her as a dangerous criminal, but also made it possible to deny the rights of due process and habeas corpus to any young black woman, simply on the basis of her hairstyle.

For African-American women, the personal has always been political. What grows out of our head can mean the difference between being a citizen and being a subject; being enslaved or free; alive or dead. As Don Imus found out this week, 300 years of a tangled and painful racial history cannot be washed away with a simple apology.

Zine Magubane is an associate professor of sociology and African diaspora studies at Boston College

[Jericho]

In the late 1960s, after the FBI declared Angela Davis one of the country's 10 most wanted criminals, thousands of other law-abiding, Afro-wearing African-American women became targets of state repression -- accosted, harassed, and arrested by police, the FBI, and immigration agents. The "wanted" posters that featured Davis, her huge Afro framing her face like a halo, appeared in post offices and government buildings all over America, not to mention on television and in Life magazine. Her "nappy hair" served not only to structure popular opinions about her as a dangerous criminal, but also made it possible to deny the rights of due process and habeas corpus to any young black woman, simply on the basis of her hairstyle.

OT
There's a copy of that poster here:

http://www.yessy.com/art/antiques/ot...ml?view=145467

[Legend]

got this in an email

Why 'nappy' is offensive
By Zine Magubane | April 12, 2007

WHEN DON IMUS called the Rutgers University basketball team a bunch of "nappy-headed ho ' s" he brought to the fore the degree to which black women's hair has served as a visible marker of our political and social marginalization.

Nappy, a historically derogatory term used to describe hair that is short and tightly coiled, is a preeminent example of how social and cultural ideas are transmitted through bodies. Since African women first arrived on American shores, the bends and twists of our hair have became markers of our subhuman status and convenient rationales for denying us our rightful claims to citizenship.

Establishing the upper and lower limits of humanity was of particular interest to Enlightenment era thinkers, who struggled to balance the ideals of the French Revolution and the Declaration of Independence with the fact of slavery. The 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen did not discriminate on the basis of race or sex and had the potential to be applied universally. It was precisely because an appeal to natural rights could only be countered by proof of natural inequality that hair texture, one of the most obvious indicators of physical differences between the races, was seized upon. Nappy hair was demonstrable proof of the fact that neither human physiology nor human nature was uniform and, therefore, that social inequalities could be justified.

Saartjie Baartman, a South African "bushwoman," was exhibited like a circus freak in the Shows of London between 1810 and 1815. The leading French anatomist of the day, George Cuvier, speculated that Baartman might be the "missing link" between the human and animal worlds because of her "peculiar features" including her "enormous buttocks" and "short, curling hair."

In "Notes on the State of Virginia," Thomas Jefferson reflected on why it would be impossible to incorporate blacks into the body politic after emancipation. He concluded it was because of the differences "both physical and moral," chief among them the absence of long, flowing hair.

For a runaway slave, the kink in her hair could mean the difference between freedom in the North and enslavement or worse if she were to be caught and returned to her master. Miscegenation meant that some slaves had skin as light as whites and the rule of thumb was that hair was a more reliable indicator than skin of a person's racial heritage. Thus, runaway slaves often shaved their heads in order to get rid of any evidence of their ancestry and posters advertising for fugitive slaves often warned slave catchers to be on the lookout for runaways with shaved heads : "They might pass for white."

In the late 1960s, after the FBI declared Angela Davis one of the country's 10 most wanted criminals, thousands of other law-abiding, Afro-wearing African-American women became targets of state repression -- accosted, harassed, and arrested by police, the FBI, and immigration agents. The "wanted" posters that featured Davis, her huge Afro framing her face like a halo, appeared in post offices and government buildings all over America, not to mention on television and in Life magazine. Her "nappy hair" served not only to structure popular opinions about her as a dangerous criminal, but also made it possible to deny the rights of due process and habeas corpus to any young black woman, simply on the basis of her hairstyle.

For African-American women, the personal has always been political. What grows out of our head can mean the difference between being a citizen and being a subject; being enslaved or free; alive or dead. As Don Imus found out this week, 300 years of a tangled and painful racial history cannot be washed away with a simple apology.

Zine Magubane is an associate professor of sociology and African diaspora studies at Boston College

Thanks for posting that!

[chefmike]

Imus would not have been fired if he was black, that is just as bad as his statement. Also he wouldn't have been fired if he had better ratings, it is about the money. It was a way to get out of a contract.
No he should not have been fired, he should have been warned at the least but fined at the most. What he said was meant to be funny but also to bring attention to the way collages are letting there programs go, one is clean cut and preparing the players for moving on to the business world, the other is just using them to make the school money. No collage should allow players representing them appear to be thugs.

OK now sorry I called Realgirls4me a goldfish, it was a bit harsh. Here is an interview the Rev had on O'Reilly Factor (which who I do not care for)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192277,00.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...03/ai_n8887602
Anyone remember this one from the Rev., Tawana_Brawley, he got people killed in the RIOTS he started http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley

You raise some very good points. As for myself, I'm glad that Imus started speaking his mind again this AM, on his last radio broadcast for CBS. This isn't verbatim...

I've dished it out for a long time, and now it's time for me to take it on the chin, so bring it."

He also called out hypocrites like jesse, al, and most importantly Harold Ford. Ford was noticebly silent, after all that Imus did for his chickenshit ass. I hear that Ford has also signed on with the FAUX news network, no surprise. Another political whore.