After Oprah's Town Hall: Now What?

Oprah Winfrey's Town Hall, sparked by the Don Imus debacle, was a 2-day event last week. Appearing in Part 1 were columnist, Jason Whitlock from the Kansas Star; journalist, Asha Bandele; Oprah's in-house psychologist, Robin Smith ; Diane Weathers, former editor of Essence; and outspoken columnist Stanley Crouch (who, by the way, once called Spike Lee a "nappy-headed Napoleon"). Rev. Al Sharpton satellited in. Russell Simmons was present in the audience. In the second part, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network; entrepreneur and co-found of Def-Jam records, Russell Simmons; Executive VP of Warner Music Group, Kevin Liles; and hip hop artist, Common, were onstage to offer their views, while the first panel was in the audience.

While another Associated Content article asks the question: Should Oprah's Town Hall Show on Don Imus Outrage White Americans?, the simple answer to that is "No." The issues being discussed on the Town Hall meeting had nothing to do with the white community -- It was already emphatically decided that certain whites were not allowed to use certain expressions. The issues being discussed were why do black people use them and how can it be changed when rap and hip hop artists are using the offensive phrases incessantly.