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Onica Makwakwa
Executive Director
UNITY
(703) 854-3585
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Karen Lincoln Michel
President
UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc.

The two-week suspension handed to radio host Don Imus for his appallingly racist on-air comments last week resembled a wrist slapping compared to the serious disciplinary action he deserved.

Short of his employers leveling stiffer punishment, the only way for Imus to understand the severity of his remarks is for the public to stop watching and listening to his program.

MSNBC and CBS Radio announced Monday that they will suspend the airing of “Imus in the Morning” for two weeks, beginning April 16, for what the cable television network called “racist, abhorrent comments.” The veteran radio personality referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

The announcement came after pressure from individuals and groups, including two alliance partners of UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. – the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists – called for the immediate firing of Imus.

“There’s something dangerously wrong with the system when a broadcast host demeans and denigrates African American women and gets away with two weeks of time off,” said UNITY president Karen Lincoln Michel. “It’s up to the show’s viewers, listeners, and the high-profile guests he invites onto his show to sever their ties with Imus if the radio and television networks will not.”

UNITY, a national coalition that represents more than 10,000 journalists of color, stands with NABJ, NAHJ and its remaining alliance partners – the Asian American Journalists Association and the Native American Journalists Association – in condemning the grossly disparaging remarks by Imus.

UNITY supports swift and just disciplinary measures in this matter, up to and including dismissal.

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About UNITY: Journalists of Color
UNITY: Journalists of Color, Inc. is a strategic alliance advocating news coverage about people of color, and aggressively challenging its organizations at all levels to reflect the nation’s diversity. UNITY, representing more than 10,000 journalists of color, is comprised of four national associations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association.

In addition to planning the largest regular gathering of journalists in the nation, UNITY develops programs and institutional relationships that promote its mission. For more information on UNITY, visit www.unityjournalists.org, email info@unityjournalists.org or call (703) 854-3585.