THE SICKNESS

by Malik Isasis























Last Wednesday, April 4, 2007 Don Imus, radio talk show host referred to Rutger University women’s basketball team as, “Nappy-headed hoes.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Imus, he is a white, shock jock with a long history of slinging offensive racial epithets toward people of color, specifically African Americans on his radio show. Read transcript and see the video here.

Nearly a week later the story has escalated in the call for Imus to be fired. MSNBC who simulcast his radio show live on television and CBS Radio who produces and syndicates his radio show, has decided to suspend Imus for two weeks (with pay) starting April 16, 2007.

Imus issued what appeared to be a sincere apology on the air on April 9, 2007 and his list of usual mainstream journalists, soothed Imus’ wretched nerves with validation and sympathy as if he had been the one victimized by racial slurs.

Here is Newsweek editor, Howard Fineman:

"[I]t's a different time, Imus ... it's different than it was even a few years ago, politically," and added that "some of the stuff that you used to do, you probably can't do anymore." Fineman continued, "I mean, just looking specifically at the African-American situation. I mean, hello, [Sen.] Barack Obama's [D-IL] got twice the number of contributors as anybody else in the race," and added, "[T]hings have changed. And the kind of -- some of the kind of humor that you used to do you can't do anymore. And that's just the way it is."

Later, Boston Globe columnist Tom Oliphant stated, “Solidarity forever, pal.”

Throughout the day cable news shows and their punditry all forgave Imus for his racial slur. Along with forgiving Imus, the pundits took their rage out on Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson for demanding that Imus lose his job.

The white corporate media and punditry have appointed Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson the leaders of Black America, strategically setting Sharpton and Jackson up as straw men so when they, the white punditry, spout out racial epithets, they can justify their bigotry by deflecting attention to Jackson and Sharpton. Of course, this is the height of racial arrogance to believe that black people have a leader.

Is there a leader of white people? If so, where is he/she? We need to have a talk.

The corporate media has tried to marginalize Sharpton and Jackson, civil rights activists, by calling them “race pimps” and constantly using them as a firewall to deflect responsibility. This can be seen throughout the coverage of the story.

“While I'm not defending Imus for comments — not worth repeating here — during a segment on his radio show, I am a little confused over the outrage coming from the likes of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and several more who want the man fired, including The National Association of Black Journalists.”

The white punditry and corporate elites have decided that since Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton publicly flogged Imus, that it is more than enough. The corporate shills cannot stand the idea of reflecting on the pain that they cause others…because they don’t have to. Anything that it is outside of their worldview is little more than opinion; they get to choose whether or not our feelings, life experiences and our worldview are legitimate. This is the sickness of white supremacy.

Three hundred years of American taxonomy of blacks--the physical, emotional and intellectual deconstruction of our African features like our nose, skin and hair has had a crippling effect. If you tell a people that they are ugly, and ignorant for three hundred years, those feelings then become internalized, which is why some rappers can say those very same things with abandon. It’s called internalized oppression.

Of course, the gangsta rap is another straw man argument, again to deflect attention away from their responsibility.

White supremacists like those in the media and government have created a narrative, which comforts their delusion and completes their emotional dissociation. They believe people of color are simple, child-like, which is why they are surprised when we are “articulate”. They don’t respect our life experiences, nor do they respect what we have to say—it is why they marginalize our feelings.

Their inability to do any inner work, is a testament to their sickness.

U.S.-MADE MESS IN SOMALIA

by Ivan Eland, Consortium News












The media often report overseas developments, but don’t always explore their underlying causes, which, in many cases, conveniently lets the U.S. government off the hook. The recent internecine violence in Somalia provides a classic example.

The U.S. media have focused to date almost exclusively on the rising Islamist movement in Somalia and U.S. “covert” assistance to the Ethiopian invasion that supported Somalia’s transitional government against the stronger Islamists. The media should be focusing on one of the major causes of the Somali mess: U.S. government meddling...read on.

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