http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/16/BAG27P9U5C3.DTL (04-16) 21:24 PDT -- In a twisted, indirect way, Don Imus, the disgraced radio shock jock, deserves thanks for being a catalyst for change. That was the sentiment voiced Monday night at an African American community forum at the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland.
"We have to be thankful for this insult that awakened us to the awareness that we are being injured daily by racism," said Valerie Brown-Troutt, one of seven speakers who gathered to discuss the fallout from Imus's description of Rutgers University's women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos."
I'm not going to say a word about the name "Valerie Brown-Troutt"-- not one word. And you can't make me.
What I will say is, This Imus Person may have inadvertently spawned a Black Lysistrata:
Laverne Jones, like most of the speakers, said the problem has to be addressed within the black community, where young men routinely degrade women as "bitches" and "hos."
Jones, who wore a button saying "No Sex Policy," proposed this solution: "If we stop having sex with these men who don't respect us, we could stop this problem in a week."