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Perhaps what would be best would be for attorneys to oversee a minimally antagnostic effort to award just compensation, and take home fair compensation in porportion to their time, not their usualy 97% take of a large settlement? There must be some way to ensure their compensation at the start without needing a potential Erin Brokovich style windfall as a carrot to prod participation.

It's more than just Imus
Shaun Powell
SPORTS COLUMNIST

April 12, 2007

In retrospect, outraged people shouldn't have united and screamed "blank you" to Don Imus the last few days. No, instead, we should've stuck out our hand and said, "Thank you."

We should feel indebted to a shriveled, unfunny, insensitive frog for being so ignorant that he actually did us all a favor. He woke society the hell up. He grabbed it by the throat, shook hard and ordered us to take a long, critical look at ourselves and the mess we've made and ignored for much too long. He made us examine the culture and the characters we've created for ourselves, our impressionable young people and our future.

Had Imus not called a bunch of proud and innocent young women "nappy-headed hos," would we be as ashamed of what we see as we are today?

Or, to quote Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer: "Have we really lost our moral fiber?"

And our minds as well?

I'm not sure if the last few days will serve as a watershed moment for this MTV, middle-finger, screw-you generation. Probably not, according to my hunch. A short time from now, the hysteria will turn to vapor, folks will settle back into their routines, somebody will pump up the volume on the latest poison produced by hip-hop while Al Sharpton and the other racial ambulance chasers will find other guilt-ridden white folks to shake for fame and cash. In five minutes, the entire episode of Imus and his strange idea of humor will be older than his hairstyle. Lessons learned will be lessons forgotten.

I wish I were wrong about that last part. But I doubt it, because any minute now, black people will resume calling themselves bitches and hos and the N-word and in the ultimate sign of hypocrisy, neither Rutgers nor anyone else will call a news conference about that.

Because when we really get to the root of the problem, this isn't about Imus. This is about a culture we -- meaning black folks -- created and condoned and packaged for white power brokers to sell and shock jocks like Imus to exploit. Can we talk?

Tell me: Where did an old white guy like Imus learn the word "ho"?

Was that always part of his vocabulary? Or did he borrow it from Jay-Z and Dave Chappelle and Snoop Dogg?

What really disappointed me about that exhausting Rutgers news conference, which was slyly used as a recruiting pitch by Stringer, was the absence of the truth and the lack of backbone and courage. Black women had the perfect opportunity to lash out at their most dangerous oppressors -- black men -- and yet they kept the focus on a white guy.

It was a tremendous letdown for me, personally and professionally. I wanted Stringer, and especially her players, many of whom listen to rap and hip-hop, to take Nelly to task. Or BET. Or MTV. Or the gangsta culture that is suffocating our kids. They had the ear and eye of the nation trained upon them, and yet these women didn't get to the point and the root of the matter. They danced around it, and I guess I should've known better, because black people still refuse to lash out against those black people who are doing harm to us all.

Honestly, I wasn't holding my breath for Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, a pair of phony and self-appointed leaders, because they have their agendas and financial stakes. I was hoping 10 young women, who have nothing on the line, who are members of a young culture, would train their attention to within the race, name names and say enough is enough. But they didn't, and I was crushed.

You should walk around the playground and the elementary and high schools today and listen to how young black people speak to each other, treat each other and tease each other. You'd be ashamed. Next, sample some of their CDs and look at the video games they're playing. And while you're at it, blame yourself for funding this garbage, for allowing your kids to support these companies and for not taking a stand against it or the so-called artists making it happen.

Black folks, for whatever reason, can be their own worst enemy. The last several days, the media had us believe it was Don Imus. But deep down, we know better.

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

All in the Family
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For other uses, see All in the Family (disambiguation).
All in the Family

All in the Family is an acclaimed American situation comedy that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971 until April 8 1979. In September 1979, the show was retooled under the title, Archie Bunker's Place. This version of the sitcom lasted another four years, finally ending its run in 1983.

Produced by Norman Lear and based on the British television series Til Death Us Do Part, the show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously deemed unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, breast cancer and impotence.

The show was wildly popular, and ranked #1 in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976. Only one other program, The Cosby Show, has tied All in the Family in terms of years at the top of the ratings. In 2002, it ranked #4 on TV Guide's list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time. TV Guide also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time.

Justin, It's not an issue of complaining about something, it's a matter of doing something about it.

It's not about calling for boycotts, it's about not buying into a life style (when you live in a good neighborhood) that glorifies criminal behavior.

It's about how making people look like fools is the norm (ala Michael Moore) and glorifying stupid behavior (pick a reality show). And I'm not talking about Sharpton or Jackson but about the people who buy into certain lifestyles that goes past just youthful rebellion.

Forgive my ignorance, and as a total outsider to the issue. But why is this a race question?

If the basketball team was white would the Imus comment have been OK?
...
If Imus was black would his line be justifiable?

Why do women - black or white- stand by and let it happen?
...
If you buy the crap, crap is what you'll get.

because we've turned ourselves into a legion of mindless consumer zombies unwilling to make any material sacrifice whatsoever for what we supposedly believe in.

Imus' statement about the women was an action. The Rutgers women were entitled to respond to it. Those are the two parties involved.

So my initial point was that the women who were called a name by a man are 100% entitled to respond. They did. I think they did it quite well. I think they deserved to be able to address their issue directly, as a stand alone issue, without having to "stand for" or "stand against" anyone or anything.