The Rutgers Women's Basketball & Don Imus Controversy (RUIMUS): White Privilege, New Racism, and the Implications for College Sport Management
In Gill's (2011) article, he provides "the summary of the Rutgers Women's Basketball while relating it to White privilege, new racism, sexism, and their intersection operating during the lifespan of the RUIMUS controversy" (para. 1). Don Imus and his co-hosts called the Rutgers Women's Basketball team "rough girls," "hard-core hos," "nappy-headed hos," and compared them to the "Jigaboos" in "Do the Right Thing."
White privilege is when an individual makes another group feel alienated, denies alienating others, and knowing the person in charge will be of the same race and being protected. Don Imus made the Rutgers women feel alienated which is a key component of White privilege. Don Imus also denied what he did was wrong, which is the second element of White privilege. The last element indicated is how Don Imus was protected financially and criminally.
New racism is the belief that racism no longer exists and civil rights legislation created an equal playing field. The three elements of new racism are racial ambiguity, blaming Blacks for their problems, and the use of the media to facilitate racism. Don Imus responded by blaming the rap industry for its degradation of Black females. Imus and his co-hosts used the media to relay the comments.
Sexism is the belief or attitude that women are inferior to men. Imus masculanized the Rutgers women and physically compared them to women. Black females are in double jeopardy including leadership, post-secondary education, the workplace, and sports. The Rutgers women were compared with animals, made them visible through an international controversy, and didn't receive corrective or social justice.
I don't understand how someone could look at a group of strong women and feel a need to make such a degrading comment. It's inappropriate and unethical. I don't know how anyone could consider themselves moral after making that comment. The fact that the women were receiving hate mail because of this incident makes me sick to my stomach. It makes me lose hope that people know the difference between right and wrong anymore.
I do think that racism still exists today in society. This is a perfect example of why it still exists. This is completely wrong in every way. Don Imus made the worst comments you can make about someone on the radio. There is also other incidents were racists remarks were said about Venus and Serena Williams calling them "animals." These remarks are just inhumane and there needs to be something done about it. If sports reporters are saying these things then fans or people listening to the broadcast will think it is okay to say the same thing. It is and will never be okay to make racist remarks to anyone. We are in a period of life that racism should no longer be a thing anymore but unfortunately this is not true anymore. Don Imus was only temporarily suspended from his job from this racist remarks. In my opinion Don Imus should have been fired from his job and no longer be able to do anything related to sports broadcasting. Racism was never an okay thing and will never be an okay thing
ReplyDelete-Gina Costanzo
That fact that Don Imus did not believe what he said was wrong and then he was protected is really sad. This just further proves that this world has not reached a racist free, just state like it claims that it has. I do not think that his actions were properly addressed and right punishment was not enacted. What he said was not funny and showed white privilege, new racism, and sexism as explained. This is by far the worst and most degrading comment I have heard be made by radio personnel. The way that it was handled at first I believe was for the most part correct but I do not believe that his actions should be so easily forgotten as they have.
ReplyDeleteRutgers’ women basketball team is innocent in Don Imus’ comment. Those girls are talented and dedicated; they don’t deserve such descriptions that Imus gave them. They should be seen as same as other women basketball teams and be respected. The Rutgers’ women basketball team faced double jeopardy because the majority of the team is African Americans and the whole team is female. While we are trying to solve racism in this society and it still exists, we are facing other discriminations, especially sexism. Don Imus is not the only person who has racism mind, but he is the one who is discovered. There are hundreds and thousands more “Imus” out there hurting people with their uneducated behaviors. In my opinion, early education on racism is important, and we should let the next generation realize racism is not tolerable in this society.
ReplyDelete--Haoyan Gu
Don Imus turned the highest moment in most of those girls career into one of the worst situations that they will ever have to go through. His comments were unnecessary and took the spotlight of the hard work that the Rutger girls had achieved. It was almost disturbing to listen to because of how he just kept adding on the comments. He could have maybe said one little comment and then ended. If he would have done this people would have overlooked it and not thought much of it. Instead he keeps adding comments and and bringing up new things. After he was fired he says that it was comedy and that his regular listeners understand it. Even if it was suppose to be comedy it is not expectable to talk like that.
ReplyDeleteDon Imus’ comments about the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team prove that racism still exists to a certain extent. I don’t know what could possibly influence someone to make some of the comments that he did regarding the women. If everyone seemed to agree that the comments were not tolerable, then why wasn’t he punished further? Sure, he was fired from that radio show but he found another job very quickly still working in the radio industry, which doesn’t seem right to me. Also, the fact that he says how the comments were only made as comedy and that he denied being wrong in what he said goes to show that he truly didn’t care if he hurt the women on that team. I think Don Imus should’ve been punished more for what he said in order to make it clear that racist and/or sexist remarks are not tolerable.
ReplyDelete-Kaleb Kuzma