THIS IS YOUR CHANCE! by Tim Siggia

THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!

By Tim Siggia

April 16, 2007

The following is an open letter to the Reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton:

Dear Gentlemen of the Cloth,

You will no doubt note with great satisfaction that because of a racial slur used against the women's basketball team of Rutgers University in New Jersey, radio personality Don Imus is no longer on the air. He has been fired by both MSNBC, thus losing his television program, and by CBS, losing his radio program. Though he has apologized for the slur in question, the apologies in and of themselves were clearly not enough. Make no mistake: Imus got exactly what he deserved -- what many would say he has had coming for a long time. As one who made a career of "pushing the envelope," this time he clearly went too far.

Both of you lost no time in denouncing Imus, and I, for one, will say that you were right in doing so. "Shock jocks," like their many counterparts in other areas of the entertainment industry, contribute nothing positive to American culture, and appeal mainly, if not exclusively, to the baser instincts of their audiences. However, there are a good many people out there who doubt your sincerity, who say that this whole episode was, for both of you, a golden opportunity not only to once again get yourselves in print and on camera, for which you have both shown a distinct fondness, but also to "Get Whitey."

The opportunity presented itself, and you were both quick to seize it. However, an even greater opportunity now awaits you. As the Good Book says, do you not perceive it? This is the opportunity to demonstrate once and for all that your hearts are in the right place, that your concern on social matters is genuine and real, and that you are not merely political opportunists.

As you rightly condemned Don Imus for referring to the ladies of the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed ho's," did you also, by chance, take sufficient time to reflect upon the origin of this and other similarly offensive expressions? Lest you have forgotten, that particular venue is the realm of rap and hip-hop (which, as I see it, are really two different expressions for the same thing, but I'll allow for the possibility of a subtle distinction between the two). Both these supposed art forms are, for the most part, performed by black performers for predominantly black audiences. The constant and deliberate use of indecent, profane, and obscene language is considered obligatory in this particular venue. Rap, hip-hop, or whatever else you may choose to call it, is no new phenomenon. It has been around for decades. Surely the two of you, with your worldly wisdom and social consciousness, have not been unaware of it. Yet though you were hair-trigger quick to condemn Don Imus for his use of what in fact might be considered one of the milder expressions regularly used by rappers and hip-hoppers, you have been, and still are, strangely silent when it comes to the likes of P. Diddy, Dr. Dre, and the rest of their ilk. Your silence implies tacit approval of what that crowd does, and that your outrage is highly selective, i.e., such expressions are offensive and wrong only when white people use them. You now have within your grasp an opportunity to dispel this notion once and for all.

Will you therefore now, extend your condemnation to the verbal excesses of the rap/hip-hop community, and bring your formidable public pressure to bear upon those who routinely dump volumes of hate-filled verbal filth upon the airwaves? Will you now exhort advertisers to drop their sponsorship of those who produce and perform such garbage, and call for appropriate penalties to be meted out to broadcasting networks who air this sort of thing? Will you now denounce recording companies that market so-called art forms that depend upon hatred and lewdness in order to make sales upon impressionable young people? Will you, in short, now issue an ultimatum to the world of rap and hip-hop to clean up its act, and to do so immediately?

The Smart Money is saying you won't do this -- that you will continue to rise up in righteous wrath whenever a white public figure makes a public utterance that might be construed as offensive or racist, but will continue to remain silent in the face of similar behavior by black celebrities. But as long as even a thin ray of hope exists, there's no telling for sure what wondrous things might happen if they are only given a chance.

Will you now take up my challenge?

Rev. Jackson?

Rev. Sharpton?

Are you out there?

Are you listening?

Are you reading this?

Do you even care?