EVER SINCE radio personality Don Imus was forced to apologize for his racial and sexist slurs against Rutgers' women's basketball team, a parade of middle-aged white men has gone on his show to express "solidarity" with him, in the words of liberal pundit Tom Oliphant.
Only baseball hero Cal Ripken Jr. canceled an appearance. Ripken apparently understands what the media big shots who frequent the Imus show don't: Appearing with Imus might give some people the impression that you aren't revulsed by what he said.
We don't know if the guys would have been so quick to accept Imus' apology on behalf of the young women he called "nappy-headed ho's" if they had seen the news conference held yesterday by these impressive young women and their coach. Or heard from them how much they felt hurt, degraded and robbed of what should have been their moment in the sun - making the finals of the NCAA championship.
So we want to do what Imus and his posse of media and political big shots apparently can't do: "Put a human face on all of this," as Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer expressed it.
(And that's the vile thing about name-calling: It strips people of their humanity, takes away their human face.)
"When we should have come back to Rutgers to have all the people exult and speak of all the things that they had accomplished and all the hopes and dreams that they gave to so many young girls . . . about what it meant to work hard, they came back to this. We have been physically, mentally and emotionally spent," said Stringer.
"These aren't political figures, nor are they professionals," the coach said. "These are hardworking, 18-, 19-, 20-year-old young women who came here to get an education and use their gifts for all to see. These are the young women that little girls look up to . . . There is a bigger issue here. It's more than the Rutgers women's basketball team. It is all women athletes. It is all women."
Of course, the team's news conference will be seen mostly as a backdrop to the What Will Happen to Imus? drama. A hint: His two-week suspension is conveniently set to end exactly one day before the beginning of the May ratings sweep. Of course, if we had our druthers, listeners would flex their boycott-the-Imus-sponsors muscle; economics usually trumps personalities, even radio personalities.
At the very least, we thank the Rutgers women for speaking out.
"Mr. Imus has stolen a moment of pure grace from us," said team captain Essence Carson.
Yesterday, with the whole world watching, Carson and her teammates got it back. *