Don Imus returns?

Don Imus may be returning to the airwaves.

After all the protests, all the outrage, all the indignation, the man who made "nappy-headed hos" a catch phrase will apparently be back in the broadcaster's seat.

What does this mean? One thing, apparently, is that protests, outrage and indignation don't count for much these days.

What struck me most about the Imus controversy was the very fact that it was the Imus controversy, as opposed to the McGuirk-Imus controversy. I refer to Bernard McGuirk, Imus' executive producer at the time when Imus made his gaffe, and the one Imus was talking to when he made it.

Here's the exchange:

IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --

McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.

IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there

McGuirk called the Rutgers women "hard-core hos." Imus - in response to McGuirk using the term "hos" first - called them "nappy-headed hos."

So why was McGuirk not hoisted on the same petard as Imus?

I think the real meaning of the whole mishmash is this: it's okay to call Black women hos. Just don't call them nappy-headed. That is the message that all of protesters sent when they did not call for McGuirk's head along with Imus'.

And that's a shame.