Gems from Papa Roy...

My grandfather was a very wise man. He worked hard, raised a strong family and was very active in the community. Unfortunately he never got to meet me as a man. As a kid he dropped a lot of gems on me that I didn't begin to understand untill I was older. My father, uncles and grandmother still tell me random things he would say, famous quotes he liked, things he believed and random stories. Even though the game is to be sold and not told, I've decided to share them with whoever decides to read this, whenever I'm feeling generous.

"It's better to have people think you're a fool than to open your mouth and leave no doubt."




Comrade salute

Don Imus Back on Radio

“Imus should have never been fired, just fired on/ Not with a gun, hit him up with a water hose.”
-Styles P “Cause I’m Black”


I didn’t really know who Don Imus was until April 5th, 2007. The previous day he had the now infamous on-air conversation with Imus in the Morning producer Bernard McGuirk. They talked about the Rutgers basketball team during their performance in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game. For those of you who have forgotten or have just crawled out from your rock here’s a recap…

“Imus: that’s some rough girls from Rutgers, man, they got tattoos and-

McGuirk: some hard-core ho’s, Tom.

Imus: that’s some nappy-headed ho’s there. I’m gonna tell you that now, man, that’s some…woo. And the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know, so, like…I don’t know.

McGuirk: A spike Lee thing.

Imus: yeah.

McGuirk: The Jigaboos vs. the Wannabees…”

You would think the more you hear it the less it would sting. For me at least, that is not the case. If God don’t like ugly Imus is on the shit list. See the thing is Imus and McGuirk both have histories of being racist, sexist, homo-phobic and anti-semetic. Yet they are supported by millions of listeners and millions of dollars in sponsorship money. Why do we allow these things to happen?
In 1968 Imus decided to leave his career as a brakeman for Southern Pacific Railroads and become a radio D.J. He has stated that he was inspired by radio d.j. Don MacKinnon from his youth. MacKinnon was an old-school, subtle and politically correct racist/sexist. Imus landed his first gig at KUTY in Palmdale, California, an upper class, Republican and predominantly white town, like his hometown of Riverside, California. Imus bounced around from station to station in predominantly white, republican and upper-class areas until 1971 when he landed in N.Y.C at WNBC radio. Imus was also one of the first V.J.’s for VH1 when the station started in 1985. The Imus In The Morning show was nationally syndicated in 1993 and began simulcasting on MSNBC in 1996.
Imus’ lust for attention and controversy first began to immerge when he was fired from KJOY in Stockton, California, for saying “hell” on air. Since his WNBC radio debut, Imus has made hundreds of offensive comments. In 1993 Imus called Black journalist and scholar Gwen Ifill “a cleaning lady cover[ing] the white house”. He said that the New York Nicks were “chest-thumping pimps”, referred to black journalist Bill Rhoden as ”New York Times quota filler”. Always the equal-opportunity hater Imus has repeatedly referred to Middle-easterners, as “rag-heads”, and referred to media critic Howard Kurtz as a “boner-nosed…beanie wearing little Jew boy”. Howard Stern and Robin Quivers claim they heard Imus scream “Nigger, nigger!” at a Black WNBC secretary. In 1998 Imus admitted to hiring McGuirk so he could tell “nigger jokes”(60 minutes, 7/19/98).

Bernard McGuirk has repped his position to the fullest. McGuirk said in March’07 that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was “trying to sound black in front of a black audience” McGuirk had the balls to then add that Clinton “will have cornrows and gold teeth before this fight with [Sen. Barack] Obama (D-IL) is over.”
So what happens to them now? Do they lose their sponsors? Are their awards revoked, bank accounts frozen? Of course not, that wouldn’t be the American way. Although it was when Ludacris had his Pepsi endorsement killed by Bitch O’Rielly. Don Imus got fired from CBS on April 12th, 2007. Imus and lawyer Martin Garbus filed a suit against CBS for “wrongful termination”. CBS had stated in a clause of the $40mil, 5year contract that they “hired” and “supported” Imus to exhibit “irreverent” and “controversial” programming. Imus and CBS reached a settlement in August of ’07. On November 1st, 2007, Citadel Broadcasting announced they had agreed on a syndication deal with Imus to be distributed nationally by ABC Radio networks. One of Imus’ first guests in returning was Democratic Presidential hopeful Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT). Dodd initially chastised Imus on the Rutgers situation in April but made no mention of it when he returned to be a guest in December. Huh?
What did our fearless Black leaders, such as Rev. Sharpton and Jessie Jackson, who were adamant about his dismissal in April have to say about his return? For the most part they’ve been quiet; maybe they’re too busy trying to erase the words “bitch”, “ho” and “nigga” from hip-hop lyrics. Rev. Sharpton said he will be “monitoring” Imus closely. How will he do that when he’s so busy “monitoring” rappers? What happens if Imus crosses the line again? Will he be fired and rehired by another station or maybe satellite radio? Of course he will. Imus generated an estimated $15mil for CBS annually before he was terminated. See the only way to silence people like Imus, Limbaugh, Hannity and O’Rielly is to attack the money. If we stop giving money to their sponsors like the Hanley Center, Verizon Wireless, Advil, Allstate Insurance, Geiko, Toyota, J.C. Penney, Budwieser, Mercedes Benz, McDonalds, Comcast and Target then OUR voice will be heard. Cash rules everything around us and until we realize that as a community, people like Imus will always have a job.
I am in no way surprised that Imus got another job. If anything I’m surprised that it took as long as it did. The powers that be are slick. Like hip-hop’s President Carter said “I missed when it stopped being about Imus”. The media diverted the attention to young black rappers, waited for it to cool down and got Imus back in, thus getting their paper right.
I share Styles P’s anger and frustration as well as any self-respecting minority, scratch that, self-respecting HUMAN should. Now if we could only get the same amount of people who would line up for a chance at that hose to come together and stop spending their money with the companies that endorse these scumbags, we’d see the dawn of a new day.
Comrade salute.
Jamaal Cannon

Suggested listening:

“Cause I’m Black” Styles P feat. Black Thought from the album Super Gangster (Extraordinary Gentleman)

“Ignorant Shit” Jay-Z feat. Beanie Sigel from the album American Gangster

“Nobody Cares” Saigon feat. Stic Man from the album Return of the Yardfather