A lot of people have been calling for Don Imus' head over the last couple of days. His remarks about the Rutgers Women's Basketball team have been fodder for the usual suspects in the black community. Jesse Jackson has been saying it's either him or us, like anyone actually listens to him any more. Al Sharpton says that Imus might be a good guy, but that he should be made an example of to keep others in line. And by others, he definitely only means other white people.  UPDATE - Since I started writing this entry, Imus has been canned by CBS.  I guess their idea is the he is free to say whatever he wants, but now he has to say it some place else.  It will be interesting to see where his career goes, if anywhere.

Disclaimer: I am a 36 year old white male. I grew up in a suburb of Washington, DC and have been around people of different races and religions all my life. In fact, I was a minority in my high school and was never really bothered by it. I do not listen to Imus in the Morning or any of the other immature shock jocks on the radio. I do not believe there is any so sacred that it can be poked fun at or made fun of.

In today's America, Freedom of Speech isn't equal across color lines. Things that a black comic will say every night on stage will get a white comic crucified. If the N-word is such a bad word, how come it's so freaking funny when Chris Rock uses it in his act or when Carlos Mencia tries to get it on a license plate? How the heck did In Living Color ever get on television with some of the things said in its skits? Why is it that black people only get offended when the words are said why white people? Why is it that gay people only freak out when it's a straight person making the comments? Since when did basic freedoms start applying differently depending on your skin color, religion, or sexual preference? Of course, being a white male, there are no slurs that I can consider patently offensive, no matter who says them. Well, maybe liberal!

Well, the answer to that last question is always. Skin color in America has always been an issue, but not in this way. The minorities of this country have good reason to resent the way they have been treated in the past, but I believe that at some point you have to move beyond what happened in the past or be forced to have your point of view ignored. Think about it this way, if you have a friend who gets offended at every other thing you say, are you going to want to hang out with that person or even going to worry about what they think.  The comments coming our of Rutgers talk about pain and healing. Tell the truth....have you ever truly been injured by the words of a stranger? If your answer is yes, maybe you you should look deep inside and ask yourself why.

A better tact might have been to print up t-shirts like this and sell them to all of the Rutgers students and fans. It's definitely better than what Nike has done.  The time has come in this country to stop treating races with any more or less respect than they treat themselves. If black men want to refer to themselves with the N word, they have no right to get offended when anyone else refers to them in that manner.

Finally, in the light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday, does it put into perspective how silly it is to get offended by what someone says?