Don Imus' dismissal fuels racial division

Knowing it makes no difference whatsoever, let me weigh in on the issue of Don Imus. Unless you reside under a rock, you know that shock-jock Imus put his foot in his mouth by making an off-hand comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team. The three-word faux pas cost Imus his 30-year radio career and reopened the long-going discussion of race in this country.

Imus committed the cardinal sin. He was white. By comparison to thousands of others who also have a public stage, Imus' comments were tame. But Imus is white which puts an automatic target on his back. The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were all-too-anxious to take clear aim at that target.

What does it say about our society when two lying demagogues like Sharpton and Jackson can scare enough people and bully enough companies that they are given a seat of prominence in the issues of public debate? Sharpton and Jackson were far from satisfied with a sincere apology from Imus. They wanted his blood because that would bring them power. In the end, they got their wish. And society took another step backward into the sewer world that spawns Sharptons and Jacksons.

Like you, I have watched dozens of black political pundits weigh in on this issue. Without exception, each was asked about the comparison with black rappers who use identical language that brought Imus down. And also without exception, not one of these black leaders would answer the question. Sharpton points with pride to his call for a clean-up in the rap industry but unlike the Imus episode, Sharpton has not called for the condemnation or dismissal of those black artists who feed us their verbal garbage in their street language lyrics. In so many ways, the word hypocrite is insufficient to describe the dialogue currently underway.

How come Jesse gets a free pass when he calls New York "Hymietown" - a term derogatory of Jews? Do you remember when the Rev. Al called for a public lynching of three men accused of raping Tawana Brawley in New York? Do you remember his silence when Brawley admitted she concocted the story? How about when both of these idiots said George Bush was ignoring New Orleans because it is a predominate black community.

They get a free pass because they are black and we so desperately want to follow the path of political correctness.

I have long said the greatest problem facing this nation is the racial divide. Wars come and go but the racial division that continues to this day will still pose the most dangerous problem in our nation's history. But the blame lies not with someone like Don Imus. It rests clearly on the shoulders of those black "leaders" who flock to the cameras at the mention of race and who divide this country because that division is what lines their pockets.

Don Imus is just the latest in a long line of whipping boys targeted by those who seek to promote racial division. There will surely be others. We are defining a set of rules that applies to white society and a separate set of rules that applies to black society.

If these black charlatans can silence Imus and others, they can silence you. They can force you to accept a set of rules and guidelines for conduct that applies only one-way. They are given a national podium by a reckless national media. And when called into account, they can ignore your logic and brand you as racists. And we sit frightened by their power -- even when we know in our hearts they are wrong.