Not Just Imus: Many Sports Commentators Should Wash Their Mouths

Five months ago, sportscasters across the land ripped schlock jock Don Imus for uttering racist language in reference to the black players on the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

Now comes the season for these same commentators to employ what should be an equally offensive slur.

It's used not just on HBO, but on the regular networks.

It's printed in the mainstream newspapers and magazines.

It's the nickname for the professional football team representing Washington, D.C.

It's the R-word for persons of Native American heritage.

No, it can't be justified as being the same as "Chippewas" or "Hurons" or "Seminoles," or even "Indians" or "Chiefs" or "Braves." Those all are legitimate terms for peoples who occupied America long before the Pilgrims.

In contrast, the R-word is a slur on skin color. There is no tribe or ethnic group named for the R-word.

Check out your history. The R-word is the most degrading word that someone else can utter toward a Native American. It's the equivalent of the N-word for those of African heritage, or the W-word for Hispanics, or the C-word for those of Asian persuasion, or the H-word for Caucasians. But somehow it's accepted, while at the same time all of the others are not. This baffles me.

I realize nobody means harm, and I don't mean to appear sanctimonious or holier than though. Please just think about it.

If on this page I were to submit the various racial slurs other than the R-word - or use major profanity, for that matter - I assume such language would be edited out. Shouldn't the R-word be held to the same standards of taste?

Apparently not.

Carlos Mencia tosses all the slurs on Comedy Central these days. He even has multiple words for each individual ethnic group, starting with his own. Maybe Mencia has his place, like Lenny Bruce or Richard Pryor, by showing us how to remove the damage from these degradations simply by declaring them in public over and over. It's sort of like George Carlin with his Seven Words You Can't Say on Television.