I see the last image we’re gonna have of the Rutgers’ women is, according to reports, being driven to sobs by an old white “shock jock” while holed up in the governor’s mansion before leaving him twisting in the wind overnight while they consider his 199th apology, this one after getting the final axe from radio. Which, to me, is a sad ending.
At the same time, every channel on tv is ranting and raving re: we need to get rid of such language (hos, niggers etc) within the rap culture that permeates the airwaves and floods the streets. Are we high? Some old white guy gets shit-canned and 50 Cent is gonna turn off the dollar faucets? Excuse me? No. Won’t happen. Snoop Dogg has already said he ain't changing shit. And he's the Doggfatha for chrissake!
However. I know I’m being naive here. BUT. We’ve spent the last few days tripping over ourselves about how “amazing”, “classy”, “intelligent” etc etc these young women are. But now that Imus is fired, as I said before, they will slip into the ether as soon as someone else says something stupid and we can uprise again, newly frenzied. Nothing having changed. No real legacy. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to keep Imus on and, as I remarked yesterday, let these women CONTROL part of the show? If these women are so incredible, and we do know they are 1) black (mostly) 2) young enough to be hip, but old enough to be looked up to, wouldn’t it make sense to give them a segment of Imus’ show - be it I don’t know, once/twice a week, whatever - where some of them appear and not only talk to Imus and guests about race (or whatever they want to, actually) but, for the benefit of youngsters, tell the audience what they would prefer young boys and girls listen to? Instead of listening to yet another cut about glocks and bitches, here’s what I like, try this; I like this book you might too, check out his flick opening on Friday etc etc. Some old white guy getting fired is not gonna make any young black kid care about anything; but if every Thursday morning at 7am they can tune in and really learn something from young women they can relate to, wouldn’t that be something? No, I wouldn't expect a youngster to listen to Imus any other minute of his show, they can change the channel when McCain comes on, but if they tune into these girls on a regular basis and like what they hear, that could make for a big difference, no? If these girls are the paragon of excellence we’ve said they are, how are they gonna make a difference on such a grand scale any other way? Or should we just cast them off, now that we're done using them for our latest episode of outrage du'jour?
And yes, they could get their own show somewhere else, but what could be better than this setup – they roll into the very house of hatred that had attacked them and own part of it. They can discuss things, they can argue things, they can influence from inside the very place that was the grain of sand that rolled into a ... boulder? Fuck, I was on a roll. All at the same time, as I said earlier, showing BY EXAMPLE tolerance and forgiveness. Or are these just empty, rote words we throw around?
This is unprecedented - young, black woman that can take hold of a national, white stage and affect real change. We always say if you wanna change something, you gotta do it from the inside. Well, here’s our chance.
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