OP-ED: "Why Imus Had to Go," by Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 13 April 2007, p. A17.

First off, excluding Dionne's confusing piece, I've now cited 4 of the WAPO's 5 op-eds from today. Very solid. I like Robinson a lot and have for a while. He is very incisive in this piece:

For young black hip-hop artists to use such language to demean black women is similarly deplorable--and, I would argue, even more damaging. But come on, people, don't deceive yourselves that it's precisely the same thing. Don't pretend that 388 years of history--since the first shackled African slaves arrived at Jamestown--never happened. The First Amendment notwithstanding, it has always been the case that some speech has been off-limits to some people. I remember a time when black people couldn't say, "I'd like to vote, please." Now, white people can't say "nappy-headed hos." You'll survive.

If Robinson was trying to stab me right in my logic center, all I can say is, "Bullseye!" I never got Imus' appeal myself. He averaged about 60 words an hour, after all the commercials and music and side-kick banter and his slow drawl were added in, and those words always struck me as pretty boring. But I know a ton of people who totally grooved on him, and now we'll all just move on--just like history did on Imus a while ago, thank God.