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Thursday, July 17, 2008

Editorial: Let's Put Double Standard To Rest



      Imagine if a white person was rude, crude and lewd enough to make a sexually charged comment in the mainstream media about a person of color. Oh wait, shock jock Don Imus did.
    And he was excoriated. For weeks. He apologized. Several times. With the Rev. Al Sharpton leading the charge, people still called for his firing and a boycott of his show and the products that sponsored it. Many people joined the call for his firing. And he was.
    Then the Rev. Jesse Jackson is caught on a live mike muttering before going on Fox News that because Sen. Barack Obama has been "talking down to black people" Jackson wants "to cut his (testicles) off." And he takes a little media heat and apologizes.
    No calls by the Rev. Sharpton for a boycott of his appearances. No demand that he stop showing up on the public airwaves.
    If there was ever a question about whether there's a double standard of who can talk smack about someone and get away with it, Jackson's ugly aside proves it. What would have been the reaction if Imus had called for Obama to be castrated?
    Obama's campaign has shown Americans are ready for a black president. They should also be ready to demand an end to this double standard.
   

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