Weekday mornings after my shave and shower I head back to the bedroom to retrieve my clothes for the day. While ironing them and putting them on I turn on MSNBC to see Imus In The Morning. It's a mundane and entertaining show that is unique.
It features an unusual cast made up of a well dressed New Yorker reading the news, a chubby white boy doing sports, a caustic producer and sometimes a portly well-dressed, razor-cut, New York Italian ex-detective that talks about protecting people and his gastric problems.
What sets it apart is a rail thin man in a large cowboy hat that is in bad need of a hair-cut. Their banter is interesting, the guests are informative and amusing. I do not alway's agree with the host or his guests views on the issues of the day, but I am entertained.
We all know what happened last week. Words were said, apologies issued, the self appointed racial police heard the alarm and went into media overdrive. Mr. Sharpton & Mr. Jackson (I refuse to use the title Reverend. They lost the right to that a long time ago) squealed, shouted and marched until they got what they wanted.
Imus was lynched from a tall tree in front of CBS.
As the week went on many talking heads appeared to congratulate each other on the fine job of stoning the I-man.
Only one man was bold enough to say something other than we need more diversity on our television shows.Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star (motto "That's What I Are") said that what needs to happen is a change of ethics for our youth, particularly Black youth. Prison talk and prison standards are presented to Black and White youth alike as a model for their lifestyle.
Subsequently young men dress like slobs, cover their bodies in prison tattoos and demean women as whores. This has to stop. Whitlock said the language has to stop. The hip hop songs and videos have to dramatically change to portray African American life in a positive way.
The outlook for most Black people was not good when I was a child. Most white people in the 1940's and 1950's thought of them as a lower class.This changed dramatically in the 1960's.
I lived through the riots. I saw the marchers. And I have seen things evolve and devolve since.
I wonder if my grandchildren will experience a time in their lives when people just look at each other as people.
Don Imus made a living at parodying life. At times he was way out of line. I once read a book he wrote that gave me the creeps.
However he was and is a generous and giving man.
He deserved better treatment than a public execution.
