wasn't a joke. was clearly an articulation of his subjective expereince. the 2 sentences after the headline-grabbing remark, though not as vile, show us his lens. he is clearly expressing how he processes people of color.

"That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like -- kinda like -- I don't know."

i think what he did to the TN women is just as horrible - worse in some ways. the Rutgers women were directly disparaged; the TN women were made into the tool of disparagement.

i searched for "joke" on this page, my friend...your comment is the only place i find the reference. i don't think it was a joke at all. did i give that impression?

and i agree about the TN women being used by Imus. It's a good point. different tools. but the same project under construction.

sorry, Nezua. i certainly didn't get the "joke" notion here. i keep hearing/reading it in mainstream news outlets (with no mention of the TN women), and i guess it's got me boiling. just boiled-over i guess.

oh, i'm with you bro. i don't see it as a joke at all. as i said, it is another cup of hate in a well that has already drowned so many.

You hit on the thing that has saddened me today. Beneath all my justified anger, is some aching sadness that most of our culture dismisses the beauty of the African (American) female: they see me as ugly. I have kinky hair. Nappy, to me, implies kinky but uncared for, unmanageable. I rock the 'fro, and I am becoming increasingly 'unmanageable', but my hair shines.

big love to the fro! african americans are beautiful. absolutely. even when ya don't keep the hair tamped down, well-arranged or even "cared for." Even as-is as can be. sorry, mainstream. i find black folk ten times prettier than someone who looks like imus. any DAY. so do the Imuses of the world or they wouldn't be asking to Touch the Hair so often, and they wouldnt be lying on the beach and in blue fake sunbeds. its all mangled emotions, and the hate is fear and ignorance, the slurs are jealousy, i say.

we have to just reshape the memes. we can't wait for all the haters to die, for they will teach their kids to hate. and the culture is crammed with this hate. we can't hope to change everyone's mind. we'd fall down from exhaustion trying.

so let's just remaake it. we are the new media. every chance we get lets vibe on it, let's talk it, let's put it out there. how pretty is tha kink of hair, how deep and lovely are the dark eyes, how luscious and healthy seems the brown skin. we don't have to hate on white power or white aesthetic. we just have to stop being afraid to assert Brown as Beautiful.

come on! to hell with imus, that old flappy, flaky, pasty gasbag! let's fill the internets with big love for tha Brown™!!!

Thank you NLXJ. Your palabras made me smile for the first time today. besos...

If it counts for anything I'm disgusted by this fake cowboy bigot too although I'm a pasty ass (a complexion evolved for digging potatoes out of bogs in the rain, I get sunburn when the refrigerator light comes on) Irish descended Brit.

Imus's comment just makes me want to retch. How many isms could he get in there? Racism, classism, sexism. . . That guy's mind must be an absolute cesspool of hate.

Since the Tennessee team came up, I'd like to weigh in on that one. I think Imus owes an apology to them as well. But its because, after working to reach the pinnacle of accomplishment in women's basketball, all he could say about them is that they are "cute." Can you imagine that being the sum total of what he had to say about the Florida Gators on winning the men's final four championship?! Just goes to show the extent of the sexism that goes along with the racism. No matter what those women accomplished - it was their looks that mattered. Happens all the time to women athletes.

NLinStPaul, that's an excellent point. I'm so glad you made it.

"Can't you take a joke?" is code for: get away you're bothering me, what you think and feel has nothing to do with me.

To make less of our feelings is in essence peeing on what we precieve to be insulting, therefor of no consequence. This behavior has and is a consistent theme of many in the mainstream media.

In many ways I am bitter and have nearly lost hope things will change but then I realize things are changing, slowly, but yet changing.

I wrote about this menso today, and he does have powerful friends, so I fear this won't really hurt him. He is of the old guard so his days are numbered anyway.

I can always count on you for wise, cutting, yet deeply humurous words, siempre.

youre so right, leesee. you've cracked the code.

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muchas gracias, kesha. i feel good that i can reach you.