Don Imus and Hip-Hop

By now, everyone has their opinion of whether or not Don Imus should have been fired. I've been going back and forth in my mind on the issue. Clearly, his statements where racist, sexist and just flat out wrong. And he deserved to be punished.

What I have decided, is that I am disgused by the way some in the media have chosen to use hip-hop's use of the same type of language to take some of the heat off of Imus, and also blaming the African-American community for his words.

There's nothing nice about the expression "nappy headed hoes," no matter who says it. That includes rappers. After Imus made his comments, people were outraged and spoke out about what he said. The sponsors dropped him, which means his show was losing revenue which was a big reason he was let go. The good folks at CBS and NBC decided Imus show was no longer profitable enough to combat the controversial comments he routinely made.

Now if a signifcant amount of people who become equally enraged about the rap lyrics and stop buying the product, record executives would be forced to make changes in content. But here's where the catch comes in. This week you've probably heard it said a thousand times that 70 percent of all rap cd's are bought by whites, which means that they, not black are the ones who are financially supporting those who are using this derogatory language. So as long as they keep buying it, the record companies will sell it.

Also, alot of people have talked about BET's use of provacative videos, but failed to mention that MTV uses the same raunchy videos. And let us not forget, that BET and MTV have both been owned by Viacom since founder Bob Johnson sold it in 2000. The programing has become much more controversial since Viacom took over.

One of the few things I agree with the Kansas City Star's Jason Whitlock is that white kids are buying hip-hop music, black kids are buying into hip hop as a lifestyle. Luckily I had parents that would not allow me to buy into hip hop as a lifestyle.As a result I've ended up a young black man who listens to and enjoys (some of) hip-hop music, while being a full-time college student who has never been arrested.

All Americans should be offended by the languaged used by both Imus and hip-hop artists. True, the African-American community does need to reacess the way it treats each other, but the issue stretches far beyond the black community. If you are going to spread the blame, cover the whole slice of bread.