The second-most-covered story: Imus, the man, has been eclipsed by Imus, the era of haphazard race debates.(NEWS)

ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, radio host Don Imus sat down to talk to the public, like he had almost every day for the past 25 years. But by the end of "Imus in the Morning," the 66-year-old's career and reputation were already crumbling.

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During his show, Imus called the Rutger's mostly Black women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." With his sacking imminent, contextualizing Imus's racism and its source took precedence in the news. Second to the war on Iraq, Imus was the most-covered story so far this year, according to the D.C.-based Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Around-the-clock coverage looked for what to blame. Rap music quickly emerged as a culprit. So did corporate irresponsibility as MSNBC and CBS backed the shock jock until advertisers began pulling their dollars. So did America's systems of white privilege.

Soon Imus, the man, became Imus, the era, which was most defined by a haphazard series of debates that has changed the way we talk about race--at least for now.

The prevailing conversation then became "this is not about x, but y"--not about race but gender or homophobia. Despite this, to say "Imus" in the weeks following was to evoke a meta-narrative that insisted: "See, I told you racism still exists."

Through it all, the challenge was to highlight ...