Imus Gets What He Deserves

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   So Don Imus was fired for saying or repeating phrases from Spike Lee’s movies, "School Daze" and "Do the Right Thing." Don’t fire Imus because he was only repeating what he got out of a movie, but do punish him for attacking women of a particular university.

   Imus called the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “some nappy headed hoes.” He also said the players were rough and were hardcore hoes. Today in America, some believe that it is wrong to call women by this term and some feel that women sometimes call themselves hoes.

   Coming from a family of three older sisters, a loving mother, a father with two older sisters, a brother-in-law with three older sisters and three young nieces, I believe that it is wrong also. It is also believed that you cannot call black women nappy headed. So when someone calls a black woman a nappy headed hoe, he or she has really messed up big time.

   Now I am not saying that Imus is a racist simply because he did not say specifically that the black players were nappy headed hoes. If he would have singled out the black players from the white players, then I would have considered it a racial slur. In some cases, all people regardless of their color or racial background can be classified as nappy headed on a bad hair day.

   I don’t see the cause for him to be fired either. He said some crucial remarks and he apologized to the radio and television broadcasts in which he is and was employed.

   Donald Trump dissed Rosie O’Donnell but that is far different from this. Ludacris and Snoop Dogg call women hoes and 'biatches' in their songs, and they don’t get in trouble for it either. Both of those cases don’t hold water because Trump and O’Donnell's situation is personal and in the rap world you chose to listen or not listen to the artist. The line that is being overlooked and that was crossed by Imus is that he called out a specific group and they were a young group at that.

   Some of the players had just turned 18, 19 and 20 years old, and they are young women that are in a highly respected university, getting an education and playing college basketball. Last I recalled, it takes a GPA of 2.5 to play NCAA basketball.

   Imus is set to apologize to the players and coaches personally next Tuesday. If he does go through with the player-requested private meeting, he should not be fired. Two weeks is a bit small for a disciplinary action against Imus for his mistake. I feel a month off, beginning the day of the uproar, would have been more justifiable than waiting until the beginning of next week to start his suspension. In sports, if you get kicked out of a game and suspended, you don’t wait until the start of the work week to serve suspension; you are out at the time of the incident.

   Imus is not wrong for dropping racist bombs on his comedy radio show. Imus was wrong for calling out a specific group of young women and degrading them. To me, what he did was wrong and he should be relieved of his talk show immediately.      

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