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Eeoc Chair Naomi Earp Urges Entertainment Industry To Proactively Address Race And Color Bias

Naomi C. Earp, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the nation’s leading civil rights enforcement agency, today publicly called on the media and entertainment industry to make greater efforts to combat racism, in light of the dialogue spurred by Don Imus’s remarks:

As I read the media coverage of the racist and sexist remarks made by radio jock Don Imus and his producer Bernard McGuirk, who collectively referred to the Rutgers University women’s basketball team as “rough,” “hard-core hos,” “nappy-headed hos,” and “jigaboos,” I shuddered and became outraged at the unfairness of the situation. As an African American woman giving leadership to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the nation’s foremost civil rights agency charged with combating discrimination in the workplace, I cannot stand silent on this matter.

How dare these two men utilize the airwaves to assassinate the reputations and denigrate the accomplishments of these talented Black collegiate women who, against all odds, advanced to the NCAA championship and represented their university in stellar fashion. Given their academic and athletic achievements, these young ladies should have been celebrated and not castigated.

The popular ditty, “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me,” is untrue. Names, especially racial and sexist slurs, can and do hurt! It is one of the reasons that the EEOC recently launched E-RACE -- Eradicating Racism And Colorism from Employment, a national campaign designed to hold businesses accountable for the discriminatory conduct of their officials, managers and employees. Read more at eeoc.gov.

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