When I first learned of Imus’ racist blunder, I was angry. I am an African American woman who has spent decades tolerating racism and sexism. At times, I feel helpless in the face of racism and sexism. "What can one Black woman do?", I sometimes ask myself. At other times I confront and deal with racism and sexism. Most of the time I’m exhausted by it. But, when I saw the Rutgers team, my anger mixed with pain. Those demeaning words were used to describe teenage girls.
Imus’ words hurt the Rutgers women and they hurt me, but I am also perturbed by the words spoken by several white men, and some white women, in the aftermath of the controversy. These epithets originated "in the black community", said Imus and others. "They are only words", said a white man who is a witty, intelligent friend whose company I typically enjoy. And finally, the most perturbing statement of all is one that was made by Imus during his apology - "I am not a racist." Michael Richards also declared that he was not a racist after calling a couple of African American men in his audience "nigger", and after reminding the same men that they would have been lynched decades ago if they dared to anger a white man.
I could not respond to some of these statements because I read them or heard then on television. I’m taking this opportunity to respond now. I did respond to the statement that was made during a face to face conversation. I’m taking this opportunity to elaborate on my responses. I don’t think my white male friend with whom I spoke heard me.
Even while he declared that he was not a racist, Imus, provided incontrovertible evidence that a racist is exactly what he is. Posing as an expert in black culture and life, Imus "explained" that the racist and sexist epithets he uttered originated in the "Black community". I have never called, nor has anyone ever called me what Imus called the young women on the Rutgers basketball team. I’ve asked almost all of my family, friends and acquaintances (members of the Black community) whether they had ever used such language, and whether it has been used against them by someone Black. Each person said no. My friends, acquaintances and I are educated, middle class and most of us are well over 40. I expected to get, and did get different answers when I asked my law school students the same questions. Most of my students are under 35, and some of them had used similarly hateful language against another Black person. Or, they had been the victims of similar words spoken by another person of African descent. That my students live in this kind of world is tragic. That Imus does not recognize that one cannot attribute anything to "the black community" is equally tragic. Imus’ comment vividly demonstrates exactly what racism is.
The public chatter about the Imus debacle has subsided, but somehow, to the extent there is any public discussion about the issue now, it has become an indictment of Rap and Hip Hop. This is a natural consequence of denying responsibility for one’s mistakes. If Imus believes he is not a racist, someone has to be at fault, and that someone is the entire black community from which, according to Imus, the language he used emerged. When Imus and others attempted to be more specific about where to place blame, they pointed to Rap and Hip-Hop artists.
These newly-formed critics of Rap and Hip-Hop do not understand the difference between Imus’ attack against a specific group of teenagers and young women about whom he knows nothing, and the indictment that some rappers lodge against some young women, both Black and white, who behave a certain way - at least in the rappers’ experience. They may not know that decisions about lyrics are not made by rappers without the input of the white male executives who lead major record companies and who insist that certain lyrics will sell best. Iris Crews, one of Tupac Shakur’s lawyers told me that Tupac complained that his record company insisted that he release a record with a gangster theme even though Tupac wanted to release a loving song he had written about his mother. Eventually, Tupac released the song he preferred - a loving tribute to his mom, but only after he did what the record label told him to do - gangsta rap.
Two years ago, when I explained to a white man who sat next to me at a bar association dinner that I was about to host a conference on workplace racism and sexism, he responded, "I wish I were a Black woman attorney". When I asked for clarification he explained that he would have been even more successful if he had the advantages that Black women have in their careers. I asked him what he thought about the racism and sexism African American women face in the workplace. I explained to him that most of the beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women. He stopped listening before I could say that the most typical affirmative action benefits white men in the form of nepotism, favoritism, persisting discrimination, and the old boys’ network. And, I never got the chance to say that inherent in his statement is his belief in white supremacy and black inferiority.
If I had the time, and if he would have listened, I would have told the attorney who said that he wanted to be a Black woman about the workplace experiences of most Black American professionals. On too many occasions, we are misidentified: black lawyers mistaken for mail room workers, or defendants; black doctors mistaken for nurses or orderlies; black business executives mistaken for secretaries. The common thread throughout all of these misidentifications is that the African American lawyers, executives and doctors were dressed like, and behaving like members of their profession when the misidentifications occurred. They didn’t look like lawyers, executives or doctors to the whites who misidentified them because they looked like African Americans.The Rutgers women did not look like the successful, beautiful women they are to Imus, because they looked like African Americans.
My point here is not that these misidentifications are actionable discrimination. If they say anything at all about race, the messages are indirect, unconsciously transmitted, and almost imperceptible. Imus’ words reveal the assumptions that some white Americans have about Black women, and this helps to explain why women of color are dramatically under represented in senior management or executive positions within most corporations. The assumptions revealed by Imus’ words may explain why women of color describe corporate cultures as uncomfortable, hostile and unsupportive. Some corporate executives understood that their companies could no longer sponsor Imus’ show and withdrew their sponsorship in the days between the controversy and Imus’ firing. The next question is whether the same corporate leaders will understand the impact of racism and sexism on other corporate constituencies, including the African American women who work for them, hoping to climb the corporate ladder, and to be paid the same as their white and male counterparts.
Imus made it clear that he was talking about the Black players on Rutgers’ team by using the words "nappy-headed". Imus’ words reveal the presumptions and generalizations that some white Americans have and make about Black women and where we belong and what we do - in our personal lives and careers. In certain spaces - a championship game, at or near the top of the corporate ladder, even in our own neighborhoods - we are seen as interlopers, undeserving of acclaim, but deserving criticism and debasement. Even though the young women on the Rutgers team excelled athletically and intellectually, Imus denigrated them and described them as something they are not. And, let me give you another salient, but less degrading example from my own life. Last year, while walking on the upper-east side where I live, a middle-age white woman mumbled that I should move out of her way. I started to explain that I was walking on the right side of the sidewalk, and she on her left, and that we should walk on crowded sidewalks the way we drive. Before I could say this, she yelled over her shoulder, "Go back to the ghetto! If you’re not going to act civilized, you should just go back to the ghetto".
Finally, to my friend who said that Imus’ words "were just words", I say that some words hurt.
Imus’ words reverberated in my mind in the days after he uttered them. I would forget for a moment, and then - pow - they hit me, and reminded me that I am not just an American, or just Cheryl as I travel in this world. I am an African American woman, and even though I am also a skier, a swimmer, an avid fan of theater and music, a law professor, a mentor, a daughter, a sister, and a good friend to many, I am just another "nappy-headed ‘ho"to some.