Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Imus in the morning, booboos big time.




I have been looking around the Christian world of internet, to see if anybody besides Rev. Sharpton is saying anything about this? And guess what, no. Why? I am bamboozled. I decided I would say something. How in the world is he just getting 2 weeks suspension? How have we become so bawdy and crass so freely over the airwaves? Doesn't anybody care? Are we afraid of being shot down for standing up for this? I know that racism still exists, its all around me. I hate it. And yet the monster rears its ugly head in me sometimes too. Its in our churches; and in lots of ways, even though it isn't spoken out loud its spoken silently and nonverbally. Its there.
Mr. Imus said out loud what probably a lot of people think. But that doesn't make it right. It is absolutely sad and maddening that it happened. I feel for the girls on the Rutgers Basketball team that were on the receiving end of the remark.

Idol Chatter at Belief Net says this about Mr. Imus.

Well now some of the advertisers have pulled their advertising from his show, As they say money talks, and may bring about more power than any other thing can.

Imus "has stolen a moment of pure grace from us," the captain of the Rutgers women's basketball team said Tuesday, responding to the uproar over the radio host's comments. The media is saying the team is handling it with class and dignity. But the effects are there.

Perhaps Mr. Imus brought out what is still alive in our country that needs to be confronted with God's grace and love. After all isn't this part of the Resurrection story and the story of the gospel? Lord heal our prejudices in this country. Help us to stop the name calling. Help us heal the division in our country. Help us to heal the division in our world.

If you don't know what Imus said, you can read it here.
Here is Imus on MSNBC

4 comments:

Dr. Laura Marie Grimes said...

Thank you for speaking out on this; I have been thinking about it a lot since I am preaching against cheap "forgiveness" that ignores justice and transformation this Sunday. (Exploring the forgiving and retaining sins bit in the Thomas gospel). I was glad to hear that MSNBC dropped his simulcast in response to advertiser pullouts, and am hoping that CBS will follow suit and fire him completely. He attacked those wonderful young women directly and also all women and people of color, and there should be appropriate consequences for his own sake as well as education and deterrence of those who say or condone such things.

Anonymous said...

I've been following this as well partially b/c it ties into something else that caught my eye: one of my professors suggested an article to me in the April O mag (Oprah's) - in it there was a suggestion that if you only had an hour to watch TV, she suggests that all women watch the NCAA women's basketball tourney so that advertisers will pick up the $$ & women's sports will get better funding - there was another article that tied into it about Title Nine.

I cannot imagine what these lovely hard-working young women must be going through when they should be so proud to make it where they are & have a crass old guy make such hateful and racist comments...

There would be some justice if he lost advertisers while women's sports gained them - not that I'm keeping score or anything...

Terri said...

I tried to post on this all day Tuesday and blogger would not let me publish. I tried three times, and three times it failed. I got tired of my own voice, thoughts, and writing on the topic of behavior, consequences, and forgiveness... I finally took it as a sign to let it go...:-)

Thanks for speaking up.

1-4 Grace said...

I was extreamly proud of the way the these young women have handled themsleves. They are true champions.
Imus deserves far more than he has gotten, and yes, the apology is a start, but i think he needs to spend sometime doing what these ladies do al lthe tiem. They study, they work, they practice and they maintain diginity.