Viewpoint: Who Are the Hos Here?

What does it take for Imus to see a group of distinguished college athletes as something other than "hos"? When two blond teenagers were accused of robbing a bank in suburban Atlanta on Feb. 27, the delighted national media dubbed them the "Barbie Bandits." Read that as "cute and white." But when the Scarlet Knights pushed their Cinderella season all the way to the championship game, Imus trashed them.

I've grown accustomed to an undercurrent in public policy debates that blames black women for an array of social and cultural failures. Without making distinctions, that racist sentiment casts us all as lazy and drug-addled welfare queens, thoughtless breeders of criminals, and unwed heathens who are sacking the sacred institution of marriage. The obverse, of course, is the black woman who presumes to move into the American mainstream. That woman is not successful. She is uppity.

Imus' attack on the Scarlet Knights was was just as vile as his insult directed years ago at distinguished PBS broadcaster Gwen Ifill. When the New York Times assigned Ifill to cover the Clinton presidency, Imus remarked, "Isn't the Times wonderful? It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House." As far as Imus is concerned, a black woman like Ifill should be emptying the President's trash cans, not interviewing him. That casual slander reminded me of an e-mail I once received from a reader who asserted his view of a black woman's proper place. "I have floors that need to be mopped," he said, and--more crudely than I can dare repeat--a sexual organ that needed to be serviced. He would have been happier, apparently, if I were a ho.

I'm not much troubled by ignorant e-mailers or radio-active racists. My parents taught me to ignore them. But I am surprised that Imus continues to enjoy the support of so many political and entertainment celebrities. They were not offended enough by his racial stereotypes to turn down a little airtime. I think I know hos when I see them.

Tucker is editorial-page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution