Amen

Forget the multitude of talking heads.

This amazing woman said it all....

Don Imus and the Double Standard

Please see my previous post on Jackie Robinson for background.

Don Imus got fired for making a racist and sexit remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team.

Much has been made, of the double standard that is applied, along the lines of, "it is ok with rappers, etc.. to use the same words, but when a white DJ says them, he is made a pariah, and loses his job...."

I am not a fan of hip-hop. I deplore the explicit lyrics.

Having said that, as a white American, I would never utter the filth that came out of Mr. Imus's mouth. He should know better. In fact, he does know better. It was not a mistake, it is how he feels. This is not the first time for this bum to utter a racial slur, it is just (hopefully) the last.

Thanks to the Rutgers Women's basketball team for standing up for themselves and getting this idiot off the airwaves.

I am ok with the double standard. Again, as a caucasian American male, I cannot make up for the centuries of injustice to people of color and to women. I can only ensure that I will not make any utterances that re-enforce that injustice and I roundly condemn all that do.

It is really quite simple, folks.

National Shame

Tomorrow mark's the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first game as a Major League Ballplayer. We are told it is a time for celebration. I am ok with celebrating the man, and his legacy, but for me, a caucasian baseball nut, it is a time of great shame.

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. THAT WAS NEARLY A CENTURY AFTER SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED IN THIS COUNTRY.

For you Video-game heads, WE USED TO HAVE SLAVERY IN THIS COUNTRY. That's right, we imported folks from Africa, and held them as chattel, as property. For two centuries. The practice was outlawed, only for political reasons.

As bad as that is, that is not why I am ashamed. I am ashamed for what has transpired since. Though Jackie's entree into the Major Leagues was long, long overdue it was seven years BEFORE Brown vs. Board of Education

It was an entire generation before the cats from Texas Western changed the face of college basketball. Revered bigots like Paul "Bear" Bryant took even longer to integrate their squads
and only did it as a last resort, when it became clear that that was the only way to compete.

God bless you Jackie Robinson, and I am very, very sorry, as well as being totally ashamed.