Imus - The Sequel

OK, so now I take off my outraged black woman hat, and put on my lawyer hat. Let me make a few disclaimers, however, and say first that the last time I actively practiced law, I think disco was in fashion. Second, my "specialty," if you could call it that, was consumer law and not constitutional law. Third, while you can take the girl out of the law, you can't really take the law out of the girl...which means that I am constantly looking at a given issue through varying lenses (this always makes the simplest decision so difficult in my regular life). I'm sure you know where this is going...I just have to ask the question whether Don Imus's right to free speech has been violated?
Oliver Wendell Holmes said free speech could be curtailed if there was a clear and present danger that what was being said might bring about the ills that Congress had a right to prevent. Holmes wrote in this decision that the first amendment would not cover a man “falsely shouting fire in a theater” and causing panic. Did the Imus “joke” present a clear and present danger? Probably not. The Supreme Court later ruled that speech should only be banned if it is meant to incite immediate lawless action. Such a foolish remark could certainly be expected to incite immediate action, but probably not lawless. So I still don’t think it meets the test. If that's the case, why didn't Imus get himself a fancy lawyer and sue CBS and MSNBC? Well, Imus had a job. And your boss can pretty much fire you for whatever reason s/he wants. The stampeding away of big advertisers in the commercial media is a pretty good reason to get a pink slip. Folks have been fired for less. So the nappy headed ho comment incited imminent economic action. You know...like in the cartoons when the pack of money sprouts wings and flies out the window...

Remember, he was only going to be suspended for two weeks. Although both heads of MSNBC and CBS said their decisions to fire Imus came after receiving thousands of emails and having conversations with employees at both media organizations, you know perfectly well that the two week suspension would have stood if advertisers hadn’t backed away so fast you could hear them beeping. I believe it helps that the head of American Express, an Imus advertiser, is a black man. I believe it helps that Bruce Gordon, the former head of the NAACP and the only black person on the CBS board, appeared on national television and said Imus had to go. But it was the loss of millions of ad dollars ($20 million, according to THE WASHINGTON POST) that sealed his fate. Or, in the vernacular of the street, the cap in his ass had a dollar sign on it.

But here’s the thing: Americans tend to be a forgiving lot (can you say "the rehabilitation of Richard Nixon"?), and unless he decides to retire, Imus will be back on the airways someplace. In fact, Imus is still on some goofy little 14-thousand watt station outside of Los Angeles in a Best of Imus format (they started today with the show on which the "nhh" comment was made..,the programming director thought it was important for listeners to hear how Imus came to make this utterance...context, the director said...). My guess is, and y’all can put notes in your desks to remind you that I said this, by year’s end, he will be on Sirius or X-M satellite radio with his shock jock buddy Howard Stern, spewing his venom and being heard by followers who are willing to pay for it. And so be it. I’m not always a big fan of the end justifying the means, but it gives me hope to know that we finally figured out how to make the system work: manipulation of the almighty dollar.

My final word on this isn’t my word at all; it’s a commentary by NPR’s Michel Martin, made early in the week, before Imus appeared on Al Sharpton’s radio show, before the suspension and the ultimate firing. And if you saw 60 MINUTES on Sunday, the 10-year-old profile of Imus they rebroadcast featured the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner she refers to in her commentary.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/roughcuts/2007/04/can_i_just_tell_you_1.html

What she said…

Stepping onto my personal soapbox

When I first heard about blogging, my question was "who would want to read somebody's random ramblings?" I still think that's a legitimate question. But for years, now, I have had issues on my mind that I thought no one was paying attention to, so this is my chance to speak out!

What drove me to this at last? Don freaking Imus. I think I would have been outraged if this was a stand-alone episode. But if you stack this up next to Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, and yes, even Isiah Washington, it looks to me as though we have people behaving badly with little or no consequence. I was driven to write to the chairman and CEO of CBS Radio, which I'll share with you here.

April 9, 2007



Mr. Daniel Mason
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
CBS Radio
1515 Broadway
New York, New York 10036

Dear Mr. Mason:

I know how much demographics matter, so let me give you mine before I get to the subject of my letter:

African American Female
54 years of age
Undergraduate Degree: Stanford University
Graduate Degrees: MS Journalism Columbia University, JD Columbia University
Current Employment: Executive Director of Development, Atlanta GA
Previous relevant employment: Editor, KCBS Radio, San Francisco CA

Obviously, I speak from some experience. And I write to you today to express my extreme dismay at the way CBS Radio has opted NOT to handle the Don Imus debacle. I was working at KCBS Radio when Jimmy the Greek was fired from his post as commentator for NFL TODAY, for making the now infamous statement, “During the slave period, the slave owner would breed his big black with his big woman so that he would have a big black kid—that's where it all started.” The dismissal was swift, and unapologetic.

Frankly, I see no difference between that shameful gaffe and Don Imus’s reference to the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.” He can apologize all he wants. However, the statement is, in fact, racist on its face, and by refusing to take a no-tolerance position, CBS Radio is complicit in promoting racist, and therefore, hate speech.

I have, until today, been very proud of my association with CBS Radio. However, I find it necessary to now boycott the CBS Radio network. While my one radio dial may make no difference to you, I also plan to boycott the companies that advertise on your network, and I will encourage everyone in my personal network to do the same.

You should be embarrassed by this blatant prioritization of cash over a standard of human decency. However, in my experience I find those who most should be embarrassed, never are. Shame on CBS Radio, and shame on you.

Sincerely,


I copied this to MSNBC's chairman and CEO, along with chairmen and CEOs of Capital One, Shell Oil US and Orbitz, all of whom advertise on Imus in the Morning. In doing the research to find these people (I love the Internet), I discovered that Capital One's CEO is 1972 Stanford grad, and one of the company values is "Doing the right thing." I also discovered that the recently retired chair of the NAACP sits on the CBS Network board. He got a copy, too.

In the midst of apologizing Imus has also been justifying. He says he was trying to be funny. I have an amazing sense of humor (if I do say so myself, and I do), but there is not one thing funny about referring to a group of hard-working, accomplished, college-educated young women as nappy-headed hos. He says he didn't think that phrase up all by himself; black men refer to black women as hos and bitches and any number of other degrading terms. So of course, it must be OK for him to do it as well. NOT. But see, here's the thing...he says he's a good man and not a racist, and yet, people who use this kind of speech almost always believe this kind of speech. How else does it work its way into our personal lexicon?

And excuse me...a TWO-WEEK suspension? In the words of Olivia Soprano, "...oh, poor you..." I got grounded for three weeks in high school for staying out too late.

If we don't stand up, like Howard Beale in the movie, NETWORK, and shout "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore," this will never stop.

CBS needs to fire his ass.