Evan Weighs In

This story has gotten completely out of control. When I first heard about my thoughts were something like, "wow, the media is going to make a huge deal out of this." Shockingly, I was right.

But I'm not here to write about the media. I don't have the time to point out everything wrong there. Instead, I'm writing about the people who won't let this story die, Al Sharpton and, to a lesser degree, Jesse Jackson.

The "reverend," who may or may not have ever conducted a religious ceremony, represents everything that is wrong with race relations in our country. Is there a better example of a hypocrite who preaches tolerance but practices discrimination on a daily basis? As soon as he heard that a white radio host made a stupid, insensitive remark about a group of black women he no doubt was sexually arroused.

Al Sharpton hates white people, but for some reason that is acceptable and he is portrayed as a hero. Don Imus does not hate black people, but he is now an unemployed villian. Seems fair.

For a better take on this, check out Jason Whitlock's outstanding article. He does a great job summarizing the hypocrisy and skewed priorities that exist among our country's African-American "leaders."

How did rap music get its exemption?

"We cannot afford a precedent established that the airwaves can be used to commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism. But there will be no champagne bottle popping by those of us involved in this. This is not about gloating," Sharpton said. (Editor's note: from CNN.com's Imus coverage)

Has Mr. Sharpton ever seen a rap video or heard a rap album? Seems like record labels, radio industry, and television stations have "commercialized" the sexism and racism just fine. I don't understand why airing a 50 Cent video is still ok, but airing Imus's show is not.

Why does no one in the media discuss this?

Imus is the new Janet Jackson

There was an article on cnn.com tonight explaining why "nappy" is a racsist term and is so bad. It goes so far as to call it "the other n-word."

I'm no racial expert, so there's probably a 90% chance that what I'm about to say is either racist or just plain wrong. So I'll appologize in advance, but I'll also preface it by saying that my view here would be the same if we were talking about any race, color, religion, or other collective group:

If the term "nappy" was really as bad as it's supposed to be, would we really need an article on cnn.com to explain to us why it's so bad?

I'm not arguing that "nappy" is an acceptable word to use (especially not after reading the article), and I'm not saying Imus should have said it. But I think everyone needs to take a step back and look at the magnitude of the offense and the magnitude of the corresponding reaction and public outcry. Did Imus really commit an inherently heinous crime? Or did he commit a standard crime which the media has made really heinous?