Don Imus Called Her a 'Cleaning Lady,' Journalist Gwen Ifill Answers Back
By Jennifer Millman
September 21, 2007
When Don Imus hurled a racist and sexist slur at the Rutgers University women's basketball team during their championship game last spring, renowned journalist Gwen Ifill—a black woman—used her platform to defend the victimized girls. Then Imus went after her.
Ifill, moderating and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," spoke to a packed auditorium at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., Thursday about "politics, policy and reality—what's really going on in Washington" as part of a lecture series presented by the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. Read Ifill's full biography on PBS' web site.
A 30-year journalist, Ifill began her talk by thanking Don Imus for helping her get over laryngitis. She, too, was a victim of his insensitive remarks. "Isn't the 'Times' wonderful," Imus said, referring to Ifill. "It lets the cleaning lady cover the White House."
"This country will only flourish once we consistently learn to applaud and encourage the young people who have to work harder just to achieve balance on the unequal playing field," Ifill wrote in an April op-ed to The New York Times. "Let's see if we can manage to build them up and reward them, rather than opting for the cheapest, easiest, most despicable shots."
(See also: 'Nappy-Headed Hos': Don Imus Apologizes for Slur Aimed at Rutgers Team and What We Learned From Don Imus: TV News Needs New Faces)
Giving Black Women a Voice
"Every time a young black girl shyly approaches me for an autograph or writes or calls or stops me on the street to ask how she can become a journalist, I feel an enormous responsibility," Ifill wrote in her op-ed. "It's more than simply being a role model. I know I have to be a voice for them as well."
Ifill gave black women and so many others a voice Thursday as she reflected on her own battles with stereotypes, which became more subtle over time.
"'You're so articulate,' people say, as if that's a surprise of some sort," said Ifill, bringing up a concept to which many professional black women across sectors can relate.
(See also: 'You're So Articulate')
Ifill spoke about honoring women who broke through the glass ceiling and told a captivated audience that she keeps two photos on a bulletin board by her desk: Sojourner Truth—one of the earliest women's-rights activists and U.S. abolitionists who in an 1851 speech spoke about many of the struggles black women still experience today—and a snapshot of herself at a typewriter at her first newspaper job.
"I appreciate the connection between two black women of different generations with vastly different options available to them," Ifill said. "She kicked the door in; I walked through it."
But there's still a question of what to do once you get in the room, she mused. "As you gain experience, credibility goes along with it," said Ifill.
Despite all the progress that has been made in the three decades since she's been a journalist, Ifill said, "Never in my dreams did I think we would still be arguing about what women could do, where and when," and in 2007, still debating whether the first woman president may be elected. Citing statistics on the dearth of female political leaders in Congress and state offices, Ifill noted much progress has yet to be made, but women vote more often and at higher rates than men in U.S. elections, she said, and these voting patterns may finally put this country on par with countries like Liberia that have already had female heads of state.
"Politics can change things and it matters who holds the job," said Ifill. "News media doesn't tell Washington stories in a relevant way" to working Americans with everyday concerns, and the media could do a better job being relevant to these constituents by avoiding the "insider politics" that usually dominates news coverage, she said.
"I feel a responsibility to my parents, who told me there was nothing I couldn't accomplish. I feel a responsibility to little black girls who look like me and wonder ... to tell them what the world is like," said a teary Ifill.
But with the right education, the right opportunity and the right amount of "gumption" at the right time, we all have access to better choices, she said, and "If we're doing our jobs right, our daughters will have that as well."
On Oprah, 'Black Enough,' GOP
During a Q&A with the audience, Ifill touched on many important issues DiversityInc has covered at length. Asked whether Oprah Winfrey's endorsement of Barack Obama would sway the nomination in the Illinois senator's favor, Ifill said it wouldn't hinder Clinton's campaign and would only help Obama. Using Oprah as a source for political and civic engagement might be a good thing, but "I just want people to get their information," said Ifill, whose contention reflects the findings of a recent Pew Research Center for the People & the Press report on the power of celebrity endorsements. Download it here.
(See also: Can Oprah Make Obama President?)
Ifill also talked about the four major GOP candidates' decision to back out of a debate focused on issues important to people of color, which had been scheduled for Sept. 27. "What were they thinking?" asked Ifill, who said many of her Republican colleagues across race/ethnicity were dismayed by the candidates' sudden conflicts in schedule. For more on why Republicans wouldn't come to this and other debates of traditionally underrepresented groups, see the October 2007 issue of DiversityInc magazine, out shortly.
And is Obama black enough? This isn't a mainstream story, said Ifill. "It's within the black community," where "black enough" is "code for authenticity." The "black enough question" is really asking: "Who are you? Are you about me?" said Ifill.
"Our history is such that fair-skinned blacks tried to pass for white and often did so successfully," she explained, also citing Tiger Woods' efforts to be "nonracial," which seems to spurn the black community that tries to embrace him.
(See also: What's 'Black Enough?' Michelle Obama Fed Up With Debate and Is Obama 'Black Enough'?)
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