The CBS popular radio announcer, Don Imus, has been carpeted for two weeks for the offensively racist remark he made about some Black female university basketball players. That suspension is not enough. As usual, he does not believe he is racist and many Black leaders are calling for him to be fired. Normally, as a Black person, I would be against anyone losing their job or livelihood because of a racial remark, no matter how abhorrent. But this case is different for three main reasons.

First, the length of time Imus has been doing his job. He has had thirty years in it, building up an audience of over half a million, a sizable audience for a morning show; people who would look to him for guidance and being a role model. One would have thought that those years in the job would have given him a sensitivity for the feelings of his audience and a respect for the listeners who keep him there. One would also have expected that such long years would have built up an expertise which fosters the kind of responsibility and respect we would expect from such an experienced talk show host.

Yet, his critics say that during his thirty years he has shown a 'pattern of racially charged remarks' which he said were either 'misinterpreted' or 'satirical'. Regardless of misinterpretation or otherwise, they were still racist, yet he did not desist. But racist remarks of any kind have no place in the vocabulary of someone on the public stage who is supposed to be serving a diverse audience with his programmes. Being in a position of authority, especially with the privilege of being White in a majority White community, carries certain responsibilities as well as rights. We cannot attack people who are weak, or powerless, then say we are not bullies. Just as one cannot continue to use racist language down the years, aimed at vulnerable members of the community, then say one is not racist. It's a contradiction in terms. If we use the language of the bully, we are bullies, and if we use the language of the racist, of ethnic hate, we are racist.

Language of Hate
Second, the language we use defines who we are. We cannot use the language of hate if we aspire to love. The two are incongruent. For example, the word 'boredom' does not exist in my vocabulary. I have never used it in my lifetime to describe my feelings because I have too much to do in any one day and cannot find the time to be bored at any point. The word NO does not exist for me either, especially when trying to achieve something, because I believe everything is possible. Someone else who does not believe that will think 'no' first before they look at the possibilities. Moreover, I have never thought of saying anything racist about another person because I value every person and treat them with respect until they show me otherwise. So language is not just something we learn to use for communication or our benefit; not just something we pluck out of the air to use when we feel like it. Language represents who we are, body and soul, and the meanings we wish to convey.

Just look at the words you use now, if they are mainly negative and lacking in hope or positivity, they tell you who you are, where you are in your life and where you are going. We cannot use negative language and achieve positive aims, neither can we put down others and expect to make friends with them. Language reflects our identity, ethics beliefs, who we are and aspire to be. We give life to what we believe in through language. We would NEVER use words we are not comfortable with unless we were coerced. We stamp our own style on our use of words so much that when something comes from us which doesn't sound in line with our personalities, not the 'normal' thing we would say, people begin to wonder. Language comes from the heart and the head to reflect exactly who we are and what we value. So when we use negative terms against others, we are actually demonstrating our fears, our insecurities, our low self-esteem, prejudices and, most of all, our feeling of power over them. We have the power to say such remarks, so we will. Otherwise, why would this man, who has a job many would die for, wish to say something so awful about women far away he didn't even know?

Finally, his responsibilities. Don Imus has a radio programme which goes out to a diverse community with sponsors from that diverse community. When he disparagingly talks about certain people in such racist ways, what message is he giving to his Black listeners about their worth and value? Most important, how does he expect those listeners to react who thinks him worthy enough for their time in tuning in to his programme? Sometimes, as we get so bloated with our own power, we forget about respect to the people who put us where we are. The word RESPECT is a six dimensional one which has sensitivity at its core. Where was Imus' sensitivity to his diverse audience?

Don Imus has abused the authority placed in him as a public announcer, one who is supposed to be serving ALL members of his public, not just the White section of it. If he decides to make racist fodder out of others, he should know that carries consequences. By showing little sensitivity to his diverse audience and supporters with those awful racist remarks, he effectively relinquished the authority vested in him to act in an unbiased way and forfeited that respect. He should now be relieved of his post.