Pointing Fingers

Jason Whitlock, a sports writer for the KC Star, writes an article sums up the racial issue currently at play because of Don Imus' crude jokes about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Whitlock writes:

"Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

"You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

"You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

"Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred…

"… In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?"

Whitlock makes the point powerfully that the worst threat to black people is the element of black culture that tears itself down.

"No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out."

Make sure you read the whole article here. It's short, well written, and a must read.