Burying Don Imus: Anatomy of a Scapegoat

In April 2007, talk radio host Don Imus ignited controversy when he called the women's basketball team of Rutgers University ""nappy-headed hos."" Awkward (Afro-American literature & culture, Univ. of Michigan; Negotiating Difference: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Positionality), a self-described ""black male feminist scholar,"" challenges what he calls the knee-jerk response to Imus's remark, situating the outcry in the unresolved collective trauma and racial violence that African Americans endure. Awkward also places the controversial comment within the context of the satirical thrust of Imus's show and touches on a variety of other hot topics-misogyny and hip-hop and the 2006 accusation of rape against players on Duke University's lacrosse team. Verdict Awkward presents an unsettling and illuminating argument. An essential read for anyone interested in racial politics and gender and media studies.-Karen Okamoto, John Jay Coll. of Criminal Justice Lib., New York .