Imus, Don(e)

If there's one thing that I've discovered during the whole Don Imus controversy, it's this: Imus strikes an uncanny resemblance to Sam The Eagle, from The Muppet Show. Although, I always thought Sam had more hair.

This post isn't even really about Don Imus. Of course what he said about the Rutgers' women's basketball team was wrong. Should he have been suspended? Absolutely. Fired? Maybe.

What drives me nuts at times like these are the inevitable appearances of Rev. Al Sharpton, and Rev. Jesse Jackson on virtually every newscast, calling for, in this case, the firing of Imus. While calling for his firing, did they sprinkle in an apology to the wrongly accused members of the Duke lacrosse team? Not that I heard.

While they were speaking out against Imus, did they also call for a ban on insensitive and offensive lyrics in hip-hop and rap songs? Nope. It'd be refreshing to see Sharpton standing at a podium outside a 50 Cent concert criticizing the lyrics of P.I.M.P., or Jackson in front of the doors of the record company that released Webbie's Gangsta Musik album. The lyrics in these songs would make Imus sound like Mr. Rogers by comparison.

Look, I'm not here to tell Imus what he can or can't say, or what 50 Cent, or Webbie can sing or rap about. It's the double standard from Sharpton and Jackson that is so disturbing -- in this case, Sharpton especially. A black woman fabricated a story about being raped by white members of the Duke lacrosse team. How come we don't hear Sharpton criticize her? If she was white and the team members were black, I'm sure Sharpton would have had plenty to say.

Let's look a little closer at Sharpton. This is the same man that in 1989, after a white woman was raped and beaten in Central Park by a group of black youths, claimed that the victim was a "whore," and that "the boyfriend did it." Matias Reyes later confessed to the crime in 2002. He was black, and not the boyfriend.

Back in 1987, Sharpton became the spokesman for Tawana Bradley, an African-American girl who claimed she was raped by a group of caucasian men, which was revealed later to be a hoax. Sharpton had to pay over $300,000 in libel damages to New York prosecutor Steven Pagones, who Sharpton accused of participating in the rape.

Don't forget the Crown Heights incident, his stance that Bernie Goetz should have received the death penalty, basically for defending himself against being robbed by four African-Americans, the massacre at Fredi's Fashion Mart (scroll to "1995"), etc. Gee, you'd think a "community leader" would be a little more responsible than that.

So, Imus has been silenced.

How do we silence Sharpton?