Hi, Pls read this, I hope this will help you all make up your mind about the people like IMUS. Michael J. Sorrell: Imus is a racist, and he's never hidden it Real tragedy: that it took us so long to be outraged 06:51 AM CDT on Friday, April 13, 2007 Don Imus is a racist. Now before you accuse me of playing the race card or being a younger, taller version of the Reverends (Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton), hear me out. At Oberlin College, our Black Studies Department taught us to define racism as possessing the power to enforce one's discriminatory views and beliefs. Don Imus clearly fits that criterion. By virtue of his position as a radio host, he had the power to attack a team full of extraordinary women. He then misused his power by labeling them "nappy-headed hos," an obviously bigoted belief. Yes, America, Don Imus is a racist. But, let's be honest, it's why you loved him in the first place. Mr. Imus has been the exact same guy, saying the exact same types of things for years and, for doing so, he has been handsomely rewarded. His show brought $8 million in advertising revenue last year to CBS because companies knew he had a loyal audience. Advertisers and executives wanted access to his fans. Now, I'm assuming that these advertisers weren't interested in folks like me because I've never found the Imus brand of humor appealing or entertaining. Truthfully, I've listened to his show only by accident. Mr. Imus is rude, ignorant and discriminatory in a very calculated and informed way. But we already knew all of this because these qualities were on full display regularly. So, while it's great that American Express, Staples, Procter & Gamble and General Motors pulled their ads from his shows – before he was fired yesterday – I can't help but wonder why they were there in the first place. Here lies the crux of the problem: In America, racism sells. Racism has become a cottage industry. Far too many people for far too long have profited from possessing and espousing racist sentiments. Worse yet, the so-called defenders of the oppressed have carved out a nice living for themselves commenting on – without ever fully addressing – these racial robber barons. The bitter reality of the pill Mr. Imus is forcing us to swallow is that each one of us has played a role in creating this climate. Many people in this country have a vested interest in perpetuating the stereotypes of the black community. Additionally, there is a segment of our nation that is most comfortable when receiving negative images of the black community. If you doubt the veracity of this statement, think about the following: One, it took considerably more effort for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday to become a national holiday than it did for Three 6 Mafia to win an Oscar for a song called "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp," pulled from a movie about a black pimp in Memphis. And, two, BET and MTV profit handsomely off of their constant bombardment of the nation's airwaves with music videos and television shows that are simply using hypnotic beats and catchphrases to mask the fact that they are endorsing the banality of exploitation and discrimination. The Don Imuses of the world underscore one of the reasons why historically black colleges and universities are so important. The only way to fight ignorance and racism is with education. These schools still produce the majority of black college graduates in this country. As a society, we cannot defeat bigotry without the resources to do so. An educated populace that stands up against such behavior is our only real resource in this fight. The real tragedy of Don Imus isn't what he said. The true tragedy of Don Imus is that it took so long for people to become outraged. I don't begrudge Mr. Imus for being a racist. I begrudge us for making him a rich one. Michael J. Sorrell is interim president of Paul Quinn College and former staff member of former President Bill Clinton.