Dear Pam...

Dear Pam,

Look, we've been through this already. More times than I care to admit. Normally, however, I only have to worry about your distractions during football season. But this year I'm paying a little more attention to the NBA playoffs and TNT has you on their sidelines as well.

Please, these are sporting events. I need to be focused here. I can't be thinking about how many points Dirk has or whether Stephen Jackson will lose his temper and then BAM! it's what Mos Def was singing about on my tv screen.

Your latest transgression has not gone unnoticed. In those white pants, I think you joined the Great Wall and the Luxor as the other man-made object that could be seen from space.

*Sigh*

Yet, yours is more captivating than any wall or pyramid ever could be.

Oh Pam, I could never stay mad at you!

Yours forever,

DAF

Everyone Get In Line

So the Duke LAX fiasco won't go away, especially if you live in Durham, NC as I happen to do. During lunch today I read the Duke Chronicle (student newspaper) as I usually do. I happened across an editorial today which I found both interesting as well as totally frustrating.

For those not in the know, music artist Common, who happens to be a personal favorite of mine, came out and made a public apology for condemning the accused LAX players before a formal investigation was completed. Conveniently, this apology comes just a short time before he is scheduled to perform here for the students of Duke.

This editorial continues on to say that Common, along with others, should be commended for apologizing for what the rest of us also assumed. The LAX players were guilty before they ever went to trial.

So now we should all get in line and apologize?

Guess what? I'm not sorry for thinking these guys were guilty before the investigation started. I, like many others, was a victim of the media spin and Durham County DA Nifong. Why should I apologize about the slanted reporting on this incident? Not once did I think, despite my inclination that these boys were guilty, that they did not deserve a fair trial.

In fact, when I learned that the accuser's claims were unfounded I didn't feel guilty at all for my own feelings. I felt sorry for the students whose lives had been PERMANANTLY and IRREVERSIBLY damaged by this whole fiasco. You know who else I felt sorry for? The accuser. For some reason, she felt she needed to make a false accusation. Worse yet, what if she wasn't lying? There were clearly no winners in any of this.

But why should I apologize? Because I assumed they were guilty? We all knew guys capable of this type of act in college. Maybe at your school they were the rugby players, or the soccer players, or the Sig Ep's (I don't know just some random stabs here). Doesn't matter. These boys may not have done anything they were accused of but somewhere in this country kids just like them have.

Once again, America, you're getting it wrong. Those that made public statements should apologize (kudos Rashid). But the rest of us? Maybe we should be focusing on our communities. Our relationships with our neighbors whose cultural roots differ than our own. I thought racial tension is Chicago was palpable. In Durham, it's like a punch to the face. This whole case is representative of a much greater problem in this country. Anyone who saw 60 minutes this past weekend or has followed the Imus saga knows exactly what I mean. We don't trust each other. We don't like each other. And we make others that are different from ourselves victims. One way or another.

I'm not apologizing. And I don't blame Com for getting angry when he first heard of the case. The media portrayed this in a way where we all believed it. We are a society divided and this story was sensationalized to obtain ratings by the media, and votes by a district attorney. Just another log on the fire that in race relations in America

What's my role in all of this?

Ok, one more serious post and then I promise to change my tone. That's what this blog is supposed to be about anyway isn't it?

I just felt the need to create a post about the Imus situation. However, I plan on taking an alternative view on the subject. One could write for days on the topic and everything it means to our culture and our society.

But this blog is supposed to be about men in a certain demographic and I want to focus on that part of it. "What does an old crotchety racist's comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team have to do with you?" one may ask.

I guess that's my point. Where do I fit in this situation? Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? Am I neither? The media has correctly identified Imus' comments as being part of a greater problem in this country, namely racism and the degradation of women. Now that Imus has been sacrificed on the altar, the attention has turned to rap lyrics. Meanwhile, others (some defenders of Imus) have criticized Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (having controversial pasts themselves) of being hypocritical in their attacks on the former radio host.

To many of the regulars on Okayplayer I'm evil, the white devil, and probably a Zionist. To some of my colleagues, I'm a delusional liberal.

How does the young adult white American male approach this? We criticize Jesse Jackson and we're akin to slaveowners. We support hip-hop and we're wannabes. I don't really feel like I even have a right to have an opinion.

I guess the simple answer is to just "do you" and try not to focus on how we really don't fit in anywhere. Imus made a classic mistake by trying to play the "some of my best friends are black" card. Nothing good could have come from that. But what cards can I play from my hand?

From what I understand, Imus allegedly has racist tendencies and probably got what he deserved. Everything else that has transpired since is just opportunists trying to further their own careers, reputations, and agendas. As far as I'm concerned, you can combine every celebrity and journalist that has launched an attack since and realize that, for the most part, they're no better than Don Imus.

I believe... No, I have to believe, that I'm better than that.

Oh and by the way, when is the American mainstream going to realize the differences between Don Imus, Snoop, Al Sharpton, Dead Prez, Uncle Luke, and Mos Def? If you're going to try to make an argument, at least try to have an ounce of knowledge about the people you criticize and what those individuals create.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200704130001