Okay. I haven't taken a lunch break in ages, but I just couldn't let a small measure of hypocrisy escape without comment.
I always have the news on while I'm working and I stopped a few minutes ago to grab some breakfast (even though it's almost 1:00 P.M. and I can't decide, based on my girth, if it's a BAD thing that I have been so busy lately that I keep forgetting to eat lately. ...have to admit that I kinda like it, truthfully, and I hope it--but not the resulting headaches--last!) and when I sat back down, I noticed that the press conference for the Rutgers women's basketball team is on (where they're responding to Imus' racial comments the other day) and I just have to comment myself as I listen to their coach.
Could someone please tell Ms. Stringer that this incident isn't about HER? I don't agree with what Imus said, and I realize that, as a black woman, she is deeply offended, as well she should be. But...she's supposed to be speaking about her team and about the effects of racial hatred. It isn't about her daughter being in a wheelchair nor her husband's premature death and it's not about her childhood conversations and thoughts. She's been speaking for nearly half an hour and most of it has been about herself and how hard her life has been and how she's still here. Um, sweets? You're supposed to be speaking about these girls and why Imus and people who make such racial comments are shameful. She actually sounds as though she fancies herself a modern-day poet with her dramatic, flourishing motions and elongated words and "You seeeeeee..." paragraph starters. They actually panned across the girls she's speaking for and I saw several ROLLING THEIR EYES at her!
Lady, give me a BREAK! So if these WEREN'T hard-working, intelligent women who are future doctors, etc...what Imus said would be okay?! If they hadn't "humiliatingly lost a 40-point game to the #1 team at the beginning of the year and then come back to play them again when nobody but themselves believed they could do that" ...you wouldn't MIND hearing those words? Good grief. Is she always this in love with the sound of her own voice? I can't begin to imagine team meetings with her. You drop the ball...and gain a 45-minute speech about her first period.
I didn't think something so large as this could get lost in responsive comments, but it seems that's the case. They (coach, college staff, and even the GIRLS) continue talking about what outstanding women they are and how many games they've won...as though THAT is what should preclude them from being referred to in racist tones. HELLO!? If it's wrong, it's WRONG. Whether they're winners or losers or rich or poor or lazy or type-A, comments such as those made by Imus should never be uttered toward anyone, regardless of their background and future career aspirations.
The girls are now speaking in between other staff members and everyone keeps saying "[we/they] didn't do ANYTHING to deserve this" ...WHAT? There's something you COULD do to deserve racial epithets?? Are you...kidding me?
Mercy.
They--THEMSELVES--are implying racism amongst themselves and those apparently "beneath" them (who, let's not forget, don't work hard and go to college to become lawyers and doctors, and who don't win games against the number one team in their league, and apparently DO do things to deserve such abhorrent labeling). [...?!] They cannot comment on how wrong Imus' comments were without referring to the players' character and point spreads and who they plan to be after college. Don't they get it? It's disgraceful no matter WHO Imus was referring to and what sort of people they are, will be, or have been!
I'm just incredibly surprised that nobody seems to notice the irony.
Just damn.
