Recently there was extreme furor in every corner of the media over radio host Don Imus comments on his morning show about the Rutgers women’s basketball team.

Imus was commenting with someone about the basketball team after their big game. A comment was made about how rough-looking the team is and it was mentioned that the team members were a bunch of rough-looking hos. Apparently that wasn’t enough because then Imus decided to say that they looked like a bunch of “nappy headed ho’s.”

Apparently, making a sexist remark wasn’t enough, so Imus went the extra mile and made the sexist remark a racist one as well.

Media news organizations made a racket, which isn’t a bad thing, since they took note of a racist remark and highlighted its inappropriateness. Even Condoleeza Rice got in on the action, calling Imus’s remarks “disgusting.”

Imus was subsequently fired by both MSNBC where his TV show airs, and CBS, which broadcasts his radio show in the mornings. Media personalities ranging from Howard Stern to Elisabeth Hasselbeck of The View were applauding the fact that he was fired.

The media, however, only gets into a frothy-mouthed furor over singular individuals making derogatory statements. If a single person in the media says something ridiculous and racist, the rest of the media jumps at the chance to call for their removal. When someone in the government makes a racist comment or does something that is oppressive and racist, no one blinks an eye, yet those are the racist acts that really have an effect on the public.

Three Republican state lawmakers in Georgia blocked a move to hang Coretta Scott King’s portrait in the Georgia Capitol building. State Representative Calvin Hill stated that “Mrs. King certainly is a wonderful humanitarian…but this is not a museum.”

That seems like a benign statement until I mention the fact that the top floor of the Capitol building is billed as a museum. In fact, Mrs. King’s husband, Martin Luther King Jr., has a portrait hanging up in the Capitol, and they wanted to place her portrait next to his. The building has many portraits, ranging from governors to Civil War generals.

The system was used to block honoring one of the most important women in the fight for civil rights. I didn’t see media outlets outraged over this act or calling for change. I didn’t hear MSNBC or Condoleeza Rice throwing a fit over Mrs. King’s portrait.

Our country isn’t the only place where racism exists; even Tony Blair of the United Kingdom isn’t past using his office to make racist statements and decrees.

Blair commented on the increase in gun and knife murders in London. He said that violence wouldn’t be stopped “by pretending it’s not young black kids doing it.”

Many in British government said that Blair had misunderstood reports that he was given. The government had recently been told that there was a disproportionate number of black youth in the criminal justice system. What was omitted by Blair, however, was that this was a result of their disproportionate poverty.

Instead of attacking this disproportionate poverty, Blair decided to go after the black kids. How does attacking a symptom of a problem (violence), instead of the problem (poverty), end the problem?

Blair is now calling for additional attention to be paid by law enforcement to black Britons. This will just increase the number of black youth in the correctional system and do nothing about the poverty they are facing.

The Rev. Nims Obunge, who was cited by Blair, stated, “He makes it look like I said it’s the black community doing it. What I said is it’s making the black community more vulnerable and they need more support and funding for the work they’re doing. … He has taken what I said out of context. We came for support and he has failed and has come back with more police powers to use against our black children.”

The media has decided not to erupt into a furor over these actions. What will have the bigger impact on society; governments engaging in systematic racism, or a radio host making a racist statement?

While people are busy focusing on lone racists, our governments are oppressing blacks. We should spend a little less time policing our airwaves, and a little more time criticizing our government and standing up against the systematic racism they enforce.

Reach Hunter Kincaid at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.