Don Imus. Gwen Ifill. Most of you probably know the first name. Fewer know the latter. No matter, by the end of this blog you’ll know Gwen Rock-on-Sister Ifill. 
Like many of you, I was aware of Imus’ “nappy headed ho” comment about Rutger’s Scarlet Knights women’s basketball team. At the time I learned about it, I was appalled. Don lost his job. He apologized, and the Rutger’s team accepted his apology.
Then I learned that these weren’t the first black women on whom Don Imus hurled racists slurs. Back when Ms. Ifill, the current host of Washington Weekly, was covering the beltline for the New York Times, ol’ Imus whipped out his PMS (Pale, Male & Stale) and took a swing at her. Imus reportedly referred to Ms. Ifill as a cleaning lady who was allowed to cover the White House.
No one takes a swing at my girl, Gwen. What’s more, I realized this is a pattern for Imus. Shame on him.
Shame on all of us. All of us allow our own patterns of discrimination to go unchecked. We are complicit when belching uncles admonish their sons, “Don’t be a faggot,” or when racist slurs from any group are directed at another…and we turn a deaf ear. Our pattern may be a pattern of isolation - choosing to stay with our safe, homogenous groups, rather than venture into the wider world where we might be less comfortable…or a minority. Our pattern may be hardwired into us - beliefs that our parents taught us - but we haven’t taken the time to wrestle with in our own hearts and minds. Anytime we crush the spirit - or potential - of another human being through our actions, comments, or silence we are disservicing ourselves, our communities, and our hope for the future.
So when Gwen Ifill appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday morning and called out Tim Russert on his own show, I took my medicine, too. Gwen’s pointed comments about her colleagues’ silence on the Imus issue remind me of my own muted complicity. Imus is an easy target. He said things - despicable things - that polite people would never say. But my pattern - of silence - is no less grave.
Here’s to speaking out, Gwen.
More links:
- Trash Talk Radio, an article by Gwen Ifill in the April 10, 2007 New York Times (subscribers only)
- Don Imus’ apology to the Rutger’s Scarlet Knights women’s basketball team
