With the ending of Don Imus’s radio and TV career, has arisen a perverse, if utterly stupid, caterwaul from conservatives who are, to hear them tell it, newly born converts of free speech and equally frenzied adherents of attacks on the Reverends, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. As if, but for their activism, their pal Imus would still be on the airwaves. Some have added the oral antics of various rap artists, to somehow prove that Imus was treated unfairly for using equally ugly terms to refer to Black women. This noise from the fascistic right wing of American political life, is a vital clue into how they see the world, and thus, a reflection of how they sell this view to others. It shows how deeply race dwells in white consciousness. And how it is like an inner searchlight that blinds as much as it illuminates.
These so-called conservatives see Imus as one of us, and as such, they shared his pompous, good old boy, spit-on-the -rabble racism that passes for the norm in the nation. It just so happens that he spat on the wrong group of girls this time. And neither the Reverend’s Al nor Jesse started the ball rolling against Imus, although it may have seemed so from TV. The videotape of Imus went from an almost unseen perch on MSNBC to the net, where it spread like a virus. Nameless bloggers picked it up and passed it on, and the more folks saw it, the more it spread. It became almost a living thing, nastier and nastier when replayed. The almost juvenile rant against rappers also fails upon a moment’s reflection, for while it is undeniable that some of what is said is naked misogyny, a profound hatred of women, it’s obvious that rappers have nowhere near the social or political power of an Imus.
When’s the last time you have seen or heard a rapper kick it with a candidate for the U.S. Senate? When is the last time you have heard of a rapper popping some questions to a mayor, or a governor? People who wanted to be president flock to Imus, like supplicants kissing the ring of a bishop because he had the daily ear of millions. And his blessing meant votes. No rapper in America can say the same. Imus was a creature of white corporate and political power, who made millions playing to the small-mindedness of other millions, who wanted to snicker at the lot of those they perceived as worse off than they. Unless I miss my guess, someone will hire him to do it again. There’s always a market for that. From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are produced by Noelle Hanrahan for Prison Radio.
