"What color is he?"

Don Imus has made another blunder by publically abashing attempts to mend his tainted reputation with what some consider another racist comment. During Imus’ radio broadcast, Warner Wolf, a Washington, D.C. based sportscaster, reported a story on Adam Jones (former Dallas Cowboys defensive back once referred to as Adam “Packman” Jones). Jones has had run-ins with the law and is currently suspended from the National Football League. Wolf reported that Jones had been arrested six times since being drafted by the Tennessee Titans in 2005.

Commenting on the report, Imus stated, “What color is he?” Wolf responded, “He's African-American.” And in what appeared to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, Imus stated, “Well, there you go. Now we know.”

CNN has reported that on a subsequent broadcast, Imus defended his comments positing that Jones was arrested six times because police were “picking on him.” In a seemingly aversive manner, Imus stated, “He's a football player. He is a lovely kid. He was out there having fun. What people should be outraged about is that they arrest blacks for no reason, and I mean there's no reason to arrest this kid six times,” Imus said. “They shoot blacks for no reason.”

Without qualitatively analyzing the comments, there are some obvious red flags flying. Given Imus’ historical charges of being a racist, one might assume that there would be careful steps taken to avoid such claims, particularly if they are not true. It was a little more than a year ago that he referred to the Rutgers women’s basketball players as, “nappy-headed hoes” after they lost their bid at the NCAA Championships. The team was dominated by black players and such a statement was considered racially and culturally offensive.

It is very easy to interpret a person’s words contrastingly to his or her intended meanings. By virtue of being human, we oftentimes straddle our own ethnomethodological (common sense) thinking and award people the benefit of doubt. In the middle rest assumptions of infallibility—“I know what was said” and “I know what was meant.” The way we teeter may depend on who and what was said. Is this not evident in all political campaigns?

My point is simply this, not one of us is perfect, which means we all have and will continue to make statements that will be misinterpreted. It’s how we follow those statements that will determine our master status. In Imus’ case, he has already previously made statements that were, according to him, “misinterpreted.” However, even after those comments resulted in his termination, he followed with other “misinterpreted” comments. At some point, misinterpretations become the speakers’ responsibility.

Let me provide an example of the transference of responsibility. Imus asked the question, “What color is he?” In this most contemporary time in which we live, ask yourself this question, “How long has it been since ‘color’ was used synonymously with race?” Is such a question only asked by racists? That’s not my suggestion. On the contrary, we remain “out of touch” with the evolutions of society, we tend to believe that what was done in the past suffices for the present and future. As a former employee of the NAACP, I have said “colored” is no longer applicable, which means it’s bad for Imus. But that’s only one example. © 2008 Keydron Guinn