The Rutgers Winning Team

EDITORIAL, NYTimes on the Web. April 11, 2007

It is hard to imagine a better commentary on Don Imus’s disgraceful behavior than the appearance yesterday by the very women he verbally assaulted, the Rutgers basketball team.  Mr. Imus’s comments were racist and sexist, aimed at young athletes who deserved high praise, not such low treatment.  The students were dignified, suitably angry and hurt, and the class act of the moment.

Each player who spoke at the news conference on the Rutgers campus in Piscataway, N.J., yesterday lamented the way Mr. Imus’s casual racism — calling them “nappy-headed ho’s” — turned what should have been a moment of unalloyed celebration (making it to the N.C.A.A. championship) into a media event of an entirely different kind.  The 10 players came forth to give their views about Mr. Imus after days of understandably avoiding the cameras.

Their measured responses, wit and maturity were the ultimate condemnation of the behavior of their elders in the Imus shop who claim they thought, at least at the time, that such abuse was funny.  The team members — who have agreed to meet with Mr. Imus privately — offered a better example to all the politicians, commentators and reporters who have spent the last two days dissecting Mr. Imus’s behavior.

Essence Carson, the team’s captain, was particularly eloquent in her remarks and in her responses to questions.  At one point, she said that “you don’t get too many opportunities to finally stand up for what you know is right.”  Ms. Carson and her teammates made maximum use of theirs.