Anyone wanting to know why conservatives cried “double standard” in the aftermath of the Don Imus affair only needed to look toward the ground Wednesday morning.

Taped throughout the main Quad yesterday (and likely the remainder of the week) were party fliers distributed by Phi Beta Sigma.

Centrally located on the fliers was a photo of a young black woman.

Below the belt, her rear end was protruding in tight jeans.

Above the belt, her left hand was touching one of her breasts.

Phi Beta Sigma is a black fraternity.

I’m no conservative. Nor did I cry foul when CBS and NBC pulled the plug on Imus’ show; he should have been shown the door years ago for his racist, sexist, act.

I am, however, a black male who is sick and tired of seeing other black males depicting black women as ‘nappy-headed (or in this case, perm-headed) hoes.’

The University chapter of Phi Beta Sigma is no better than Don Imus. As such, it deserves the same treatment that Imus got.

I call for all members of the U of I community, especially people of color, not to attend this weekend’s event.

If we are to have any agency in how we are depicted in the media, it must come by first denouncing atrocities within our own community.

If we do not, our future cries for justice will have no validity among the mainstream population.

We must start now, and we must start with Phi Beta Sigma. Enough is enough.

Letrell Crittenden

graduate student