With all the hub-bub about the Don Imus situation, let’s look at the real culprits in all this – the corporations. Without corporations giving millions of dollars, icons like Don Imus don’t exist. And while Imus’ “nappy-headed ho’s” comment was outrageous and outlandish, it was no more outrageous and outlandish that many other comments he has made over the years. Ironically, most of our views of Don Imus did not change with this comment. It just crystallized what we already knew. And while the comment was reprehensible, this was really nothing more than a case of Imus just being Imus.

What we need to look at is not the corporations that didn’t pull out but the companies that did pull out. The American Express, Vermont Teddy Bear, CBS and the MSNBCs of the world are the real hypocrites. In this case these corporations who had no problem supporting an admitted racist suddenly had a problem when Blacks, who most of them don’t cater to, anyway, spoke out. These corporations didn’t suddenly gain a respect for Black female basketball players or Black people in general. They were sleeping with the enemy and when they got caught with their pants down they yelled “Rape!” and everyone assumed they were innocent. And as we know from the Duke lacrosse case, this can be a mistake.

The track record of most of these corporations’ treatment of Black people is not very good. Boycotting these corporations will show them that they can’t pull out and oppose racism outwardly while condoning it inwardly. Historically, the way to shut Blacks up has been to pull out or pay them to be quiet. This is not enough because all these corporations do is re-allocate their funds to other organizations that support venom-spewing nuts, like Imus. Again, to bring out true social and economic change, you have to hit people in their pocket. It’s not enough to just give the appearance of meaning business.

The financial comes first, then the moral. Morals only come into play when they affect the financial. Don Imus was fired because of sponsors pulling out – not his comment or his weak, delayed apology for it. Last year, people of African descent spent over $700 billion in the United States. If we took our spending out of the United States and made it its own country, we would be the eleventh largest country in the world in terms of spending. This shows the economic power we possess. Yet, we have little or nothing to show for it. Once we use this power to our advantage we will be able to affect true change. Remember, it’s all about the money – and we have a lot of it. Now it’s time for us to show and prove.