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Via Jack and Jill Politics From the Blog Operation REACH B.L.A.C.K comes the post Imus is not the Issue/Imus and the Dependency of Reactionary Politics

Imus and the Dependency of Reactionary Politics

Enter Rev. Al Sharpton . . .

Like clockwork, Sharpton released a response saying,

via ESPN:
“We will determine in the next day or so whether or not [Imus’] remark warrants direct action on our part.”

Brotha Al . . . respectfully . . . please don’t.

Such a response assumes a mandate from the black community that you may or may not have, to convey a consensus message that may or may not exist. I don’t begrudge Rev. Sharpton’s passion. However, I certainly wish that he and other black leaders would begin to invest in more proactive forms of leadership.

This is a lesson we’ve learned far too often when we make moral arguments that lack reciprocity. By that I mean it’s too easy to change the subject to debates of double standards and fake cries of “reverse racism” and “oversensitivity,” when you’re vulnerable to the same criticisms you levy against others. Fact is that, following the Rutgers situation, Rev. Sharpton issued an edict of zero-tolerance that we in the black community were not and still are not willing to embrace (and for good reason).

Following the Rutgers incident, we quickly realized how hard it was to institute a zero-tolerance approach to offensive language when we failed to anticipate the response we’d get once critics turned their attention to similar language in rap music, comedy and other forms of popular black culture. Let’s be clear . . . this post is not a critique of rap music. Though I see the need for reform, I maintain that black culture should be held responsible to, and ONLY to, black people. It’s a matter of autonomy.

Instead, this post has more to do with the style, rather than the substance of modern black protest.

Looking back on the Rutgers incident, the following seems quite clear: We weren’t ready for the internal conversations our response to Imus’ bigoted and sexist comments triggered once he effortlessly morphed our objections into a national debate on rap music. By extension, this invited the inescapable stereotyping of black men and women through a different means. Ironically, objections of racism and sexism resulted in a national debate focusing on black pathologies perceived in hip hop culture.

Collectively, we weren’t prepared for the contemptuous backlash from white conservatives who retorted, “What about you.” It was too easy for them to argue that we had no moral authority because there was no consistency between our words and our actions.

The media sees no value in complexity. What resulted was a conversation that, while overdue, lacked proper context due to a rushed attempt at a moral consistency that may have been lacking from the beginning.

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Finally, it’s important to understand the perspective through which such controversies are viewed by the media. “Racism” is not some stupid comment by a shock jock on the verge of retirement. No, racism is the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in our nightly news, local broadcasts and cable networks. And while we’ve made some progress to see more black faces in a year when the first African American has a shot at the White House this does not change the fact that most if not all major news broadcasts are hosted by white men.

Again, this is not a matter of justified outrage, but a question of focus. As I see it, constantly focusing on the Don Imuses of the world inherently marginalizes the scope of racial bias in the media, which leads to far worse transgressions than stereotypes and offensive rhetoric. Political correctness is fool’s gold whilst the true treasures of ACCESS and SELF-DETERMINATION lay dormant; nothing more than mere aspirations for some future generation to tackle.

Again, where should we be focusing our time and attention? Is the extent of black liberation and respect limited to that which “offends” us? Or is there a co-equal, perhaps even dominant, branch of our collective struggle that begs us to look within to build the image, life and community that we hope to see?

Need I remind you that we are more than “offended?” We are incarcerated . . . we are dying . . . we are sick . . . we are underemployed. As a matter of fact, we are a lot of things before we even get close to being “offended.”

We’ve got much larger problems than being “offended.” And we’ll never get close to solving those problems unless and until we abandon the reactionary (and quite passive) politics of being “offended” and place more time and resources into the proactive, self-determinative politics of black empowerment.