As we revealed in part one, the 2007 Rutgers women’s basketball team was having a Cinderella season when radio host Don Imus callously dragged them into a national firestorm with a racist slur, effectively stealing their moment. But the women of Rutgers didn’t just go away quietly – they fought back, rising above the noise to tell their story. Susie and Jess are joined again by former Rutgers captain Essence Carson and Emmy-winning journalist Jemele Hill to unpack the aftermath of that sordid episode, and discuss the complexities of who gets to respond in anger when they are publicly targeted, and why.

GUESTS:  
Essence Carson, former WNBA star, Rutgers captain and current creative executive
Jemele Hill, Emmy award-winning journalist

FOR MORE:
A First-Class Response to a Second-Class Put-Down (NYT, 2007)
Imus: Race, Power and the Media (Newsweek, 2007)
Don Imus, DJ fired for racial slur at Rutgers players, dies at 79 (ESPN, 2019)

As we revealed in part one, the 2007 Rutgers women’s basketball team was having a Cinderella season when radio host Don Imus callously dragged them into a national firestorm with a racist slur, effectively stealing their moment. But the women of Rutgers didn’t just go away quietly – they fought back, rising above the noise to tell their story. Susie and Jess are joined again by former Rutgers captain Essence Carson and Emmy-winning journalist Jemele Hill to unpack the aftermath of that sordid episode, and discuss the complexities of who gets to respond in anger when they are publicly targeted, and why.
GUESTS:  
<ul>
<li>Essence Carson, former WNBA star, Rutgers captain and current creative executive</li>
<li>Jemele Hill, Emmy award-winning journalist</li>
</ul>
FOR MORE:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/sports/ncaabasketball/11roberts.html?action=click&amp;module=RelatedCoverage&amp;pgtype=Article&amp;region=Footer">A First-Class Response to a Second-Class Put-Down </a>(NYT, 2007)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.newsweek.com/imus-race-power-and-media-97775">Imus: Race, Power and the Media</a> (Newsweek, 2007)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/28379624/don-imus-dj-fired-racial-slur-rutgers-players-dies-79">Don Imus, DJ fired for racial slur at Rutgers players, dies at 79</a> (ESPN, 2019)</li>
</ul>

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.

Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.
Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett

The Rutgers Women Fight Back (Pt 2)

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/56f19f06-f013-4b51-8361-b14f0146353e/transcript

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