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Originally Posted by host
Whitlock is a darling of the right, but why does that make him more relevant than Ms. Crawford, who refers to Whitlock, in the bottom quote box that follows, as "Uncle Tom"?
IMO, Whitlock's "column" is pure spin....intended to take the blame off of the man who insulted members of a college sports team...... with racial slurs, and intended to take the focus off the real, larger problem....the still growing concentration of wealth, power, and opportunity into the hands of American WASP males!
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That's ridiculously selective host. There's room for fault on both sides. I think there are lots of factors operating here (how could there not be?), among them:
1) Imus said something stupid.
2) It was wrong and on some level, executives may have acted based on values considerations.
3) Commercial pressure certainly drove him out more than values in any case.
4) Sharpton has an amplifying platform from which to speak and he uses that at times in ways that raise issues of ends vs. means
There is a problem with racism in this country, both in terms of past behaviors and in terms of vestigial structures. HOWEVER, there is also a problem with a parallel culture in this country that operates alongside the mainstream culture of success and achievement. Having lived in Harlem in a high crime, low employment neighborhood and having friends in Spanish Harlem, I've seen this first hand. It's a real problem and calling people who realize it "Uncle Toms" perpetuates that part of the equation.
The discussion about what remedies to apply to the situation is distinct from the one about whether any remedies are needed. Conflating the people who hold these distinct views also doesn't help. I haven't seen a single person in this thread (maybe in this forum?) say that there aren't inequities in this country. I haven't even seen anyone in this thread clearly state that remedying inequities is a bad thing. I HAVE seen people question the "conventional" or "liberal" wisdom about how that could or should happen. There's a huge difference there.
BTW, I'm glad you've joined our conversation.
