BF2S Forums MSNBC, CBS Radio suspend Imus show

Reckless Blowhard

Sharpton made his name and his fame as the one to lead a protest movement after every racially charged incident in New York over the last 30 years (and many elsewhere in the U.S.) Especially early in his career, he seemed content and even eager to inflame racial hatreds at the risk of violence, as long as it gave him publicity and power.

Several of these protests escalated to the point of violence, in several cases by those who Sharpton championed. Examples include the Crown Heights riot of 1991, and a 1995 arson attack on a Jewish Harlem jeweler that resulted in 8 deaths. That attack came months after Sharpton made remarks about the "white interloper". (He later apologized, saying that he wouldn't use the word white again in that context.)

Two incidents however appear to have caused him to tone down his excesses and refine his image. First, in 1987, black teenager Tawana Brawley claimed that six white law enforcement officers -- including then-assistant district attorney Steven Pagones -- had abducted and raped her, scrawled racial insults on her body and smeared her with feces.

Miss Brawley refused to speak with authorities or the media, but Sharpton and her two other advisers were soon making wild claims. Sharpton compared then-state Attorney General Robert Abrams, a Jew, to Adolf Hitler. All three linked then-Gov. Mario Cuomo to organized crime and the Ku Klux Klan.

Within a year, a grand jury announced the story was a hoax and specifically cleared a Fishkill police officer and Pagones. Pagones sued Sharpton and the other 2 advisers for more than $150 million for defamation. At this point, Sharpton's involvements is similar to George Bush and the Iraqi uranium purchase forgeries -- it's unclear if he was actively involved in fraud, or just recklessly willing to use information he knew was very shaky to make his political point.

The other turning point came in 1991 when Sharpton was stabbed by a drunk white man during a protest march in Bensonhurst; after that he began to mellow. "There are times [since the stabbing] when I've found him remarkable and responsible," says critic Stanley Crouch. He recalls that after the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, a young black man from Brooklyn, Sharpton brought together Hawkins' stepfather with one of the group of white boys that had killed his son. "This would have been more recognized had it been someone like Giuliani," says Crouch. "After the Diallo verdict, he discouraged people from being violent," warning locals in New York that violence would not only put them in harm's way, but it would reduce them to the low level from which the unjust verdict originated," he notes. "So you have these great moments. He's also taken a more mature vision of the police and moved to differentiate those good white cops, who enforce the law properly in tough and often dangerous environments, and bad cops)."

Jet Blast wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Moved to D&ST

Eh...I think he went too far

Let's think for a second.

Would Al or Jackson have a problem with music artists calling women hoes?  Are they calling for black artists to be fired for using that term?  What about when a comedian uses that term?  Do they call for them to get fired?  No.

Some southern white males get offended when you call them a redneck.  Yet they buy CD's called "redneck woman." 

Gay people get offended when you use the term "queer."  Yet it is ok to use in the name of a TV show as long as you profit of it.

Let's just call this what it is, hypocritical bullshit.

Mason4Assassin444 wrote:

Jet Blast wrote:

Flaming_Maniac wrote:

Moved to D&ST

Eh...I think he went too far

Let's think for a second.

Would Al or Jackson have a problem with music artists calling women hoes?  Are they calling for black artists to be fired for using that term?  What about when a comedian uses that term?  Do they call for them to get fired?  No.

Some southern white males get offended when you call them a redneck.  Yet they buy CD's called "redneck woman." 

Gay people get offended when you use the term "queer."  Yet it is ok to use in the name of a TV show as long as you profit of it.

Let's just call this what it is, hypocritical bullshit.

Negative. I think the "Nappy" combined with "ho's" was the over the top racist part. And considering its a morning talkshow. Its not like a 1am howard stern episode.

Both Sharpton and Jackson have denounced Gangsta rap as Oprah has. Redneck is not even close to the same as N***** or nappy headed ho. A comedian using the term nappy headed ho? Find that one for me. QUeer is a fine word, except when your using it to demean someone.

You cant really defend Imus here. He fucked up. He gets two weeks off. End of story.

Mason4Assassin444 wrote:

Jet Blast wrote:

I have heard the word "ho" on many radio stations and TV shows just by flipping thru the channels.

Simple fact is although the guy is a tool, he should be covered under the same speech rights as anyone else on TV or radio.

Sure, a ho is a term for a whore. If a chick on My Name Is Earl is an actual prostitute, that makes sense.

These were women playing basketball for a black college, and they were't called ho's. They were called nappy ho's.

Nappy meaning BLACK. Ho's meaning they are all whores.  So on national television he called the whole team Black Whores.

Maybe Collegiate Black Whores would have been better.