Friday, April 13, 2007

What Nobody Has Said


As I watched some of the news coverage about the Rutgers women basketball players. I couldn't help but notice. Several of them have gotten their hair straightened. All of them have covered those tattoos. Everybody seems to want to avoid what Don Imus was really thinking, and just didn't want to say. He probably wanted to say some of these girls looked like boys. Bernard McGuirk said they looked just like the "Toronto Raptors". A pro men's basketball team. I think Don Imus probably thought his comment was the lesser of two evils. Had he made a comment about their masculinity. Could it have been worse? I would bet a dollar to a donut he thought about that. I have said all along the feminist movement will ultimately gain the most ground from this.

I was beginning to wonder if I was living in a bubble, for even thinking about this angle. Then I ran across this article about basketball and lesbians. If nobody has taken note of this except myself. No wonder lesbian activity is running rampant in our schools. The story below tells of at least one women's coach that is known for thinking like this.

" Rene Portland, Penn State women's basketball coach, has been accused of anti-lesbian bias. A former player, Jennifer Harris (pictured above), filed the complaint with the NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) after she had transferred from Penn, partly because of the coach's racial slights and homophobia. After Harris filed her complaint, two other former players also came forward to testify to Portland's blatant homophobia. Portland threatened to kick players off her team if they came out, and told players not to associate with anyone she believed to be gay.
Really, NOT ok behaviour for a coach. Especially a women's basketball coach. I mean, come on. Gayness and women's basketball pretty much go hand in hand. Obviously, straightness does too, but this bothers me a lot because basketball is one of those few athletic fields that queerness is almost accepted. Unless, I guess, you play for Rene Portland".

I'm not homophobic, I'm just not naive. I realize these people are on the constant attack. When I say these people. I mean those pushing the homosexual agenda. Though they only make up 2% of the population, an influential bunch they are.They may have used race to inflame the public. Though many support his suspension, they don't agree it racism. He has made a lot of enemies during his thirty years on air.

14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Common, It's been a while since I have had a comment about a topic you have posted. I am not sure if it's so much of a comment but more of a question. Do you think that all women that plays basketball is a lesbian?

7:24 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bishop, Why have you always had a promblem with women playing basketball. As a woman, who played basketball in high school and member of the Army basketball team find that statement a little bias. I think women should be able to play basketball without being considered being masculine because I did. I was never considered being masculine nor did any of the people I played ball with considered me masculine or even think I was a lesbian. I have a atheletic body and people that know me wouldn't even let a statement as such come out there mouth. I played and I continue to play now at the tender age of 31 but that do not make me a lesbian. Basketball is my passion; I love the game. Just like you have hobbies that you are passion about.

Steph

9:35 AM  
Blogger Common said...

Hi Anonymous,

Don't be a stranger. I don't think all women that play basketball are lesbians. I do think there is a higher occurence than usual. Just like men in the fashion industry. Not all of them are gay,but more than usual.

2:42 PM  
Blogger Common said...

Bishop,

That's kinda the point I'm making. As this thing continues the public opinion shifts. I heard the whole conversation between Imus and his producer. It was more of a comment on the women's looks, than it was their ethnicity.

2:51 PM  
Blogger Common said...

Read my article titled "Political correctness gone awry". Click on the link at the bottom, to hear the entire conversation.

2:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bishop/Common
I am not offended I wanted to know if you all thought that all women that play basketball were masculine looking or a lesbian.
Please understand that I am not trying to take it in another direction I just wanted to know the opinion on people from a very intelligent person like yourself
Common,
I have always enjoyed the topics that you post and your view on things.

Steph

3:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Appears that others may agree with you to a degree.

Commentary: Imus might be spark for debate on sexism
POSTED: 5:39 p.m. EDT, April 13, 2007
By Roland S. Martin
CNN Contributor
Adjust font size:
Editor's note: Roland S. Martin is a CNN contributor and a talk-show host for WVON-AM in Chicago.

(CNN) -- No one would have thought that when Rosa Parks opted not to give up her seat to a white man in 1955, a dozen years later blacks would have the full right to vote, the ability to eat in hotels and restaurants and see Jim Crow destroyed.

We might look back in a few years and come to realize that the removal of Don Imus from the public airwaves put America on a course that changed the dialogue on what is acceptable to say in public forums.

The downfall of a long, successful and controversial career, on the surface, took eight days. But for Imus, this has actually been 30 years in the making. He has used his sexual and racial schtick to pad his pocketbook. Only this time, he ran up against a group of women who presented such a compelling story, his bosses couldn't ignore the reality of his sexist and racist rant.

Although the National Association of Black Journalists led the fight to oust Imus, there is no doubt that it was that moving news conference by the Rutgers University women's basketball team that cemented the demise of Imus. Coach C. Vivian Stringer was poised and strong in demanding that America look at the 10 women and see them as the real face of Imus' slurs.

And that is really the issue we must focus on. So many people tried to make this a race issue. But for me, that wasn't the primary point. I never wavered from the attack as one of a sexist. It didn't matter that he was trying to be funny. He insulted a group of women who are already accomplished.

Then again, that happens to women every day.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, a New York Democrat, is smart and talented, but to many, she's nothing but an opportunist. She's called too aggressive, not cute and is slammed regularly. But she should be praised for being a woman who has achieved a lot in her career.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is portrayed as a bumbling idiot, but her academic credentials are impeccable. You can disagree with her ideology, but to question her womanhood is silly.

Women all across this country have to play by a different standard. They often make less than men, even when doing the same job; are accused of being too tough when they are the boss; and are treated as sexual objects.

America, we have a problem with sexism. Don't try to make this whole matter about the ridiculous rants made by rappers. I deplore what's in a lot of their music and videos, but hip-hop is only 30 years old. So you mean to tell me that sexism in America only started in 1977?

Now is the time for this nation to undergo a direct examination of the depths of sexism. My media colleagues shouldn't go just for the easy target ­ rap lyrics. That is no doubt a logical next step, but sexism is so much deeper. It is embedded in our churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, Fortune 500 companies and in the political arena. We should target our resources to this issue and raise the consciousness of people, and expose the reality.

Don Imus should not be the period. He can be the comma. Civil rights organizations, media entities, women's groups and others have an opportunity that they can't pass up. We have the chance to seize the moment to begin a conversation ­-- an in-depth one ­-- that has the opportunity to redefine America along the lines of race and sex.

I hope and pray that we have the courage to do so.

8:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You said a mouth full that none of the loud voices are going to say. We walking around here not paying attention to these girls looking and acting like boys and they taking over.

9:38 PM  
Blogger Common said...

I commend you on being the first talkshow to address the issue of the role homosexuals played in the Imus issue. In all the media coverage I have heard. Not one time has anyone brought this up. The person who leaked the story to begin with was an admitted homosexual. I sincerely doubt his concern was about the womens race. His dog in the fight, probably had more to do with the perception of some of the players being lesbian. Civil rights leaders tried to make this out to be about race. In my opinion it was never a racist comment, but a sexist one. In any event it didn't warrant his firing.He wasn't talking about Black women. He was talking about how the Rutgers women looked. What about the comment about the ladies looking like the Toronto Raptors?

1:50 PM  
Blogger Common said...

I commend the show "News and Views" on being the first radio talkshow I have heard so far. To address the issue of the role homosexuals played in the Don Imus issue. In all the media coverage I have heard. Not one time has anyone brought this up. The person who leaked the story to begin with (David Brock) is an admitted homosexual. Who switched political parties once he was discovered. I sincerely doubt his concern was about the womens race. Instead their sexuality. His dog in the fight, probably had more to do with the perception of some of the players being lesbian. Than it did them being poor, young, Black women. Civil rights leaders tried to make this out to be about race.Those who seen the bigger picture. Tried to distance themselves from the race baiters. In my opinion it was never a racist comment, but a sexist one.

In any event it didn't warrant the Don Imus firing.He wasn't talking about Black women in general. He was talking about how the Rutgers women looked. They looked like a group of rough tall men. What about the producers comment about the ladies looking like the Toronto Raptors? We know they are a mens basketball team.

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