This post first appeared April 12, 2007, on the original Blogger format for this blog. It addresses what were immediate news events at the time: the dismissal of the criminal case against the Duke lacrosse players and Don Imus being fired for sexist and racist remarks. And how does that have anything to do with Respect?
What a weird, paradoxical day it was in the news! Yesterday two windows focused the country on the deep and complicated wounds of racism and sexism.
Don Imus was removed from MSNBC (do they have any viewers left, now that they found the guy dead for weeks in his chair with MSNBC on? I think he was their audience, or at least half of it). CBS Radio has suspended Imus and is considering firing him. He decided it would be really funny to refer to young black women by the oldest, dumbest, smallest-minded insults around. He called them ugly. He called them scary and man-like. He called them sexually immoral. I guess he forget to throw in lazy — but it would be a hard joke to sell since the ladies were in the NCAA finals for women’s college basketball.
The defenses offered:
“What he said was racist, but I’ve known Don Imus a long time and he’s not a racist.” What??
“It all goes back to hip-hop culture, where it’s mainstream to talk about women that way.” Then why didn’t he say it about Rosie O’Donnell? or Hillary Clinton? or Barbara Bush? Or ROSIE O’DONNELL?
“Hey, I didn’t think insulting your genetic traits and lumping you in with crude stereotypes of your race would offend you! I was just joking, see?” That’s my paraphrase of Imus explaining himself.
“Don Imus is an ugly, freakish man with a grating voice, bushy hair, and a weird cowboy hat fetish, so what would you expect?” That’s actually my defense for him, which is no defense. And it’s a little foolish of me to criticize his voice and appearance, since I have a face made for radio and the perfect voice for a mime.
The paradoxical story: the North Carolina Attorney General dropped all charges against the three Duke lacrosse players accused of rape and kidnapping/imprisonment last year. The AG didn’t say, as expected, “There just isn’t sufficient evidence to go to trial,” or “The accuser’s statements are the basis of the case and have too many conflicts.” The AG actually said a careful study of the evidence indicated the accuser could not be believed and that the young men were innocent.
How do these things intersect? Imus, whether he is a racist or not (are we really still wondering?), bolstered the deep belief professed by a lot of African Americans that most whites are racist.
That’s the prevailing belief, true for some white people but not for all, that inflamed the political climate in Raleigh-Durham when the accusations were made. There was an immediate template of rich white kids at a private school in the bigoted south playing a blue-blood sport using black women as objects for their own pleasure.
The template said the kids thought they were untouchable and could do whatever they wanted, since they had a high-octane party and most were under age. The template said they were drunk and arrogant and brought the women in to “service” their needs and had no regard for the humanity of the strippers — er, dancers. The template said in bigoted Durham no white person would believe a black stripper would really say “no” to sex. The template said women have little power and men have a lot of power. The template said white men have all the power and black women have no power.
The template was wrong, or at least parts of it were. But it was rooted in centuries of dehumanization and sexual exploitation of black women by untouchable white men. And the players were certainly doing a good imitation of arrogant, rich white men who thought they could get away with breaking laws.
Did the DA get wrapped up in the racist, centuries-old template and let his heroic drive blind him to the facts? Not likely. He had an election coming up and knew he would be painted with the same brush — rich, untouchable white men protecting each other from the consequences of breaking the law — if he didn’t pursue the case.
So the result of the intersection is the ugliest truth of all. A rich, arrogant white man played on the frenzied fears and anger of a group of black voters to manipulate them into voting for him.
This does nothing to help people held down by racism in their community, or held back by calling themselves victims, blaming other people for their circumstances, and buying into the claim that they are helpless. This does nothing to end the remnants of racism or its effects. In fact, using racism for political gain makes it necessary to keep the anger and fear and division going instead of working to end them. That makes racism a valuable commodity to those whose power derives from it.
The Duke lacrosse players were childish, playing at being grown up by breaking rules to focus on self-gratification, drunkenness, and sexual urges. They didn’t deserve the emotional trauma of the past year, but they DID deserve serious consequences from the school for their actions, but that will be overlooked now. Their accuser was, apparently, a women with a lot of baggage in her life who turned her personal pain into an attack on people not directly responsible for her pain. She deserves compassion, but not a free pass to accuse people falsely. The DA was blinded, probably by his own lust for power, but he is likely to pay (no longer untouchable) when he faces the state bar.
What about Don Imus? He brings in a lot of money by being a jerk and a pig, so the decision about his future will not be based on morality or human dignity. It will boil down to whether they lose more money by keeping him and losing some sponsors, or lose more money by canceling his show.
And then there’s the Rutgers women’s basketball team. They are ladies of accomplishment, student-athletes doing well in college and performing at the top of their sport. They are the people with the highest character in these intersecting stories, but they received some of the harshest criticism, just for excelling — while being black women. They deserve our recognition, and our respect.
Respect is an acknowledgement of the inherent value in other people and of useful customs and traditions. Respect calls me to show consideration to others, deference to those in authority (especially if they have proven their leadership ability and are known to lead with integrity), and patience with ceremonies and traditions I do not understand or may not call my own. Respect does not prevent me from standing up for my rights or the rights of others, and it does not prevent me from questioning or even challenging a person’s behavior or a system’s rules. Respect compels me to challenge a person or organization when doing so is in the best interest of people treated unjustly, or in the best interest of equality and fairness. Respect does require me to challenge with humility and patience as much as possible.