Words hurt. Don Imus was reminded of that this week when his radio show was dropped by MSNBC-TV. He forgot that racist, sexist, homophobic, hate filled inflammatory speech hurts people because he has tolerated that kind of dialog for such a long time he had become hardened and tone deaf to it. I think many white men are ignorant of the effects of racist and sexist speech. They honestly don’t understand how harmful those remarks are to women and minorities. I do. Having labored in the ghetto of radio broadcasting most of my adult life and having worked under the boot of white men and been surrounded by their sexism, racism and homophobia, I know exactly how much their words hurt. I know precisely how difficult it is to find a decent job in broadcasting if you are a woman or any color but white and if you are deemed “difficult” or God forbid “uppity” or “aggressive” your life can really be hellish.

So…I don’t have a high degree of sympathy for Mr. Imus’s fate this week. I found it slightly amusing that some of his white male high profile guests scrambled for cover after his suspension and dismissal. Although I admire and respect NBC reporter David Gregory his stunned disbelief in Imus’s firing by MSNBC was interesting to watch. He seemed unable to comprehend that this goodhearted charitable man wouldn’t be given a chance to redeem himself. Mr. Gregory doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that the “nappy headed hos” comment about the Rutger’s women’s basketball team wasn’t just an isolated sexist/racist remark, or as Imus tried to describe it “an idiot comment meant to be amusing,” this was just the latest volley in a long running series of nasty, disgusting bigoted commentary led by Imus’s producer Bernard McGuirk. The man that Mr. Imus in 1998 told 60 Minutes producer Tom Anderson was on the show “to do nigger jokes.” NY Times columnist Bob Herbert writes about Imus’s now foreshadowing interview with Mike Wallace in today’s NY Times and the quote is repeated again on-line in Slate, which I’ve linked to on my website.

Here’s my theory on racism and racist jokes. If you tolerate racism you are complicit. If someone in your presence tells a racist joke and you laugh, you are part of the conspiracy to denigrate an entire race and class of people. I’m not saying you have to cause a scene but it’s up to you to let that person know that you don’t personally appreciate nor will you tolerate that type or brand of humor. If you aren’t in the type of social setting that will permit you to speak up personally then you must remove yourself from the situation as quickly as possible. We must all do what we can to communicate that this behavior, this type of hatred and bigotry is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

Don Imus not only tolerated racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic jokes and commentary he nurtured and encouraged it and got rich off of it. Joan Walsh wrote an excellent editorial in Salon about Imus and the whole 1^st Amendment issue, she writes, “ The First Amendment protects your right to be free from government restrictions on your expression. It doesn’t protect your high-salary job at a major network radio or cable television show. If the government came in and shut down Imus for his “nappy headed hos” comment, I’d be the first to protest. But for MSNBC to fire Imus for his years of making sexist, racist and anti-Semitic “jokes,” that’s its right. He can go shout those same “jokes” from the nearest mountaintop or in the public square. He can start a blog or a newsletter or a magazine. He can see if Fox News will give him a show. He can turn himself into Dr. Phil, and try to get Oprah to forgive and hire him. But network managers are well within their rights to say, “We just don’t want this guy representing us on our airwaves anymore.” They do that, for lesser reasons, every day.”

Couldn’t have said that better myself!