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Editor's Notebook SOME GOOD TO COME OUT OF THE IMUS EPISODE |
| Sheila Johnson-Newman hopes some good can
come out of the recent Don Imus episode. Johnson-Newman, who recently married Arlington County Circuit Court Judge William Newman Jr. and splits her time between Arlington and Virginia's Hunt Country, said the comments by Imus against members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team were offensive to her on many levels. “They impact me especially, because I am the owner of a WNBA team and a friend of [Rutgers coach] Vivian Stringer,” Johnson-Newman told the Sun Gazette's Kristen Armstrong. “I'm an African-American woman and the mother of an athlete.” “He destroyed an historical and joyful moment,” Johnson-Newman said. “And, more than anything, he really highlighted that racism and sexism are still alive today.” But, she said, something positive can come out of the episode. “We need to take what he did and move forward and have an open dialogue and discuss racism,” Johnson-Newman said. “I think we shouldn't tolerate being treated in a degrading manner. I really believe we should constantly keep a dialogue open, and not accept what's going on.” |