Then I asked myself, a slightly more poignant question, what if Mr. Imus had been a female African American hip hop artist who made the same statement during one of her songs that was on its way to becoming a platinum hit. Would this same verbiage have caused my eyebrows or those of this nation to rise? Regrettably, I must confess that answer would have been no, only because it was contained within a musical composition that purports to have artistic and other socially redeeming values. Then I revisited this question because the nature of the slur remained the same and I thought to myself how I have become so desensitized and uncaring as to believe that the statement made by Mr. Imus could be acceptable under any circumstance. At this instant, I realized that I like many others have fallen asleep at the switch by acquiescing to the degradation of our society which is allowing large chunks of the African American community (i.e., the African American youth) to be catapulted to a time when the N-word was a socially acceptable term solidly entrenched within the fabric of our society.

Other than my own soapbox tirade, you may ask what does this have to do with law? After some banter back and forth with a colleague, the question was raised whether Mr. Imus’ statement constituted protected speech under the First Amendment. Without any pause, I believe the obvious answer is “yes”. Despite the protections afforded to such speech by the First Amendment, such speech when uttered within the workplace arguably may constitute evidence to substantiate the existence of a hostile work environment based upon its derogatory racial and gender biased content. I am not advocating Mr. Imus’ statement is actionable, however, I am advocating that it is time that all employers become more pro-active and not only endorse and implement “zero tolerance” anti-discrimination workplace policies but rigorously enforce same by imposing ultimate sanctions in lieu of progressive disciplinary measures. The necessity for implementing such “zero tolerance” policies should not be limited to instances involving an infamous radio personality who receives national exposure but in all instances involving employer/employee relationships.