Don Imus, whether guilty or not of being racist, has become the embodiment of what was a social – and one time racial – anachronism. He has become a whipping boy. Because of the relentless news stories about his comments regarding the Rutgers women’s basketball team and the repercussions that came of them he can’t shake the overblown insinuations that he is Evil Incarnate. In all actuality, anything that Imus said was sexist and derogatory yet nowhere near as racist as it is being portrayed by the news media and race activists groups. But, he is being beaten for it anyways.

As much as Imus may be suffering over this fiasco, so are we. For days on end it has been boringly pounded into our heads that Imus’s comments are an issue of vast national importance. In the whole scheme of things this dustup is a non-issue and in a well-run media system it is not even worthy of mention. This is just another in a long line of overblown topics that aren’t newsworthy but are made so by a media that spoon feeds the ever-believing masses (Anna Nicole Smith, anyone?).

This overemphasis of triviality that is so pervasive in the media tends to mask what really should matter. Don Imus should not be the whipping boy for race issues. Doing so completely ignores the everyday and everywhere issue of race conflict in America. The racist label should be more appropriately applied to everyone. Every American - white, black, or otherwise - is guilty of perpetuating divides in color, race, and ethnicity.

This universal brand of hatred or confusion for dissimilar peoples is often not malicious but rather instead an ingrained behavior fostered by leadership that sets some very bad examples. The news and entertainment media are themselves a form of leadership – they control thought – but they are not the only leaders poorly influencing our ways of life. Political and social leaders belong in the mix as well.

In its most basic essence, American politics is a Caucasian fraternity. The vast majority of politicians and bureaucrats at the federal level are well-to-do white men (their numbers are in excess of 80%), making Washington DC the "white bred" epicenter of the United States. Even in such context, this extravagant ivory throne is surprisingly surrounded by a city that is 62% non-white and marred by horrible blight.

In the 1990’s Washington, DC gained the moniker of "the murder capital of the United States" and still to this day has a phenomenally high rate of crime. It’s a fascinating study in disconnects: An army of white men decide what is best for answering the problems in today’s multi-cultural society yet they are unable to see the lack of results in their practices right in their very backyard, a backyard that is home to people so unlike them. These leaders have an inability – or often a lack of desire - to put into context issues that aren’t theirs. That complete indifference to reality is racism in practice and proves that what comes out of Capitol Hill, be it entitlements or policy, will do absolutely nothing to empower the blacks and Hispanics in other urban areas across the US.

This colorblindness extends to America’s black leaders as well. Those who are rallying against Don Imus the most – the Al Sharptons, the Jesse Jacksons and the NAACPs of the world – are as dirty as they say Imus is. Those individuals spend their days searching diligently for societal and political slip-ups and insinuations and, upon finding them, attack them with unrepentant zeal. This behavior is only possible due to a deranged "us versus them" mindset that is racism in itself. By categorizing blacks as an entity unto themselves and looking at all whites as potential enemies they are hypocritically promoting witch-hunts based in spite if not outright hatred.

Because of the misguided ways of those who set the very guidelines of our thoughts, our laws and our behaviors, we have a society that is numb to real race issues. Many Americans of all colors and backgrounds turn blind eyes to their neighbors and have no understanding of real race relations or the ways of life of others. This ignorance and sometimes hatred (whether conscious or subconscious) is fostered by what is some horrible leadership.

It’s unfortunate; here we are the most developed society in the history of the world, decades removed from the civil rights movement, and we still don’t know how to break the barriers between White and Black.

Must be Don Imus’s fault.