A number of years ago Oprah had a discussion about race on her show. She made a profound observation about whites when she said, “I don’t need white people to get “It.” I just need white people to admit that there is an “It” to get.” As a white man who has been in an interracial marriage for over 28 years, who has two bi-racial children, who has very close African American friends, and who has been working at a HBCU for almost a year, I will never get “It.” I will never know what it is like to have the majority of my fellow Americans look at me and first see race. I will never know what it is like to know that my not so distant relatives were treated as property. When a white celebrity commits a rape or murder or a white politician gets caught taking a bribe I will never have to experience the fact of that person being seen first as a white person, a white person who has a relationship with all the other people of his race. This list could go on and on.
It is because of this “It” that I do not want Imus fired. My hope his that he and our society might begin to understand the issue of race in America. My hope is that the elected officials, political pundits, writers, and celebrities go on his show and confront him for what was said on those airwaves the hour or day before. I don’t want a constant discussion of race on his show, but Imus must end the hit and run racism that is central to much of his program. Imus must discuss race in the same way he sometimes discusses politics, war, and the rest of the news.
If Imus is fired our society will miss another opportunity to openly talk about race and gender. The women of Rutgers (of which I am a proud alum) began a discussion of the impact of racist talk. We need to continue and widen that discussion. I am afraid that firing Imus will continue America’s tradition of running away from talking about race, a tradition that makes it very hard for most of us to ever get “It.”