In the wake of Don Imus' recent racist and derogatory comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team, where he called them "nappy-headed hos," several journalists, commentators, and hip hoppers have also pointed the finger at rap music as an advocate for this type of behavior.As a self-proclaimed hip hopper I have to agree. But I don't simply blame greedy rappers who make money off of rhyming about hos while helping to craft a global image of women of color as such, there are also the greedier corporate forces (across mediums) that can share in the blame. And consumers like myself who don't take a consistent, steadfast stance.
Don't get it twisted, Imus is who he is, rap music didn't put a gun to his head and make him say these comments. I'm sure if he wasn't familiar with the word "ho" he would have found a creative replacement. But his actions point to a bigger picture, one that T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting attempts to analyze in her new book, PIMPS UP, HO'S DOWN: HIP HOP'S HOLD ON YOUNG BLACK WOMEN.
Through a mix of narrative, reportage and academic analysis, Sharpley-Whiting is on a mission to prove that the negative display of black women in media, particularly music videos and television, is vital to the mass media appeal of hip hop culture. As a result, as seen with Imus' comfort in calling women hos, the derogatory images of women provided by hip hop have become normal, acceptable and entertaining around the world. She delves into how this impacts the emotions, self-esteem and attitudes of young black women.
I'm in the middle of the book and have to say that it's made me think further about how mass media views me. Sharpley-Whiting is an academic, a professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and French at Vanderbilt University, but she's also of the hip hop generation and speaks honestly about her relationship with the culture. She's an insider who cares enough about hip hop to critique it.
MTW Extras:
Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?
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By: Kathy on 4/12/2007 11:08AM
I am so tired of being black; not the color of my skin, but the experience of being black. It is difficult living in my skin in a world that daily strips you of your right to move about peaceably without fear of being degraded because of the skin I'm in. We need to change the way we think of ourselves before we can change how others view u;we are our own worst enemy.
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By: Jim on 4/12/2007 11:43AM
When will blacks quit using the word "racist" as a crutch and start standing on their own two feet. Maybe I should buy shares in the crutch industry and make a profit. These so called reverends (I won't even dignify it with capitalization) of the black community are nothing more than extortionist. Don't feel bad, the galaxitly stupid corporation execs and sponsors buy into it. Slavery ended 150 years ago. Get over it. If you want to feel sorry for someone, pick the Jews. That was only 60 - 70 years ago.
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By: Sherry on 4/12/2007 12:35PM
Jim, I don't think we are feeling sorry for ourselves and no we won't just get over it (slavery). The effects still linger. At least Jewish people know what happened to their people, they were killed in the camps. Our people were stolen, separated, and sold as property and we will never know their fate except to know that of course they too are dead. But when they died and how they died will forever be a mystery. It is not a crutch it is a reality. It is someone who would be so callous as to say get over it that I feel sorry for because if you search your roots you may find we are related. Now wouldn't that be something?
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By: Reecie on 4/12/2007 12:55PM
Hey is that Jim as in Jim Crow? Get the f&*k outta here! That's all I'm gonna say to your ignorant self. I don't understand why people like him even come on a Black website when they have racist views. But therein lies the problem, so many white people are racist these days and don't even realize it. Since they aren't there burning crosses, calling us n!ggers, and lynching folks, then everything is all gravy. But the truth is, the white supremacy attitude still runs this country. You can hear the CONTEMPT for Blacks dripping off of white folks' mouths when they make comments about how Blacks need to "get over it" or "stop feeling sorry for ourselves", etc. I agree with what the first person said about being Black is exhausting. On the one hand, we're supposed to not acknowledge the barriers that exist, while at the same time these people who want to silence our voice label us all based on their racist generalizations. It's a now in situation. What we need to do is make our voices be heard louder and louder and not allow ourselves to be silenced. We need confront racism and not be dissuaded from the cause just because whites don't want to acknowledge a very real truth.
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By: Peni on 4/12/2007 1:18PM
Thank you Sherry. It was as recent as the early 60's when the rights of blacks were still unequal. Landlord extortion, unequal job opportunities and in some counties people of color were threatened if they voted.Look at what our entertainers endured traveling around this country as late as the 60's. There were still white only restaurants, countryclubs excluded blacks. Red line areas, the list goes on. This was as recent as 40 years ago. This man was airing over FCC, he does not have the right to use the communication commission any way he chooses. As far as what our own dilemmas are in our communities, we do have issues to address but it need not warrant anyone to assasinate our characters. As far as someone extorting people, ....and? His point is?
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By: Deborah on 4/12/2007 2:09PM
Please let not get into the hold slave thing. What about black racism. Your own black radio stations DJ's will say some the same thing Imus said and it hurts even more. You have Wendy Williams on WBLS NY saying things like Niggarette, referring to the african little girl adoptive by Angelina Jolie(come on a mother herself). She saying these things on radio as of today at the same time as this Imus stuff. So lets check our own or is their price of fame base on being STUPID, there go the community..
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By: sharon on 4/12/2007 1:50PM
Black is black, white is white , brown is brown, yellow is yellow and so on and on and on... forever.....
sure no one wants to move on, beyond color..... and I'll never understand it.blacks don't want whites to use their language now....geeeeezzzzzzzzzzz how pitiful is that?
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By: zayid on 4/12/2007 2:17PM
I think it's funny how uninformed black people talk about how long ago chattle slavery was. When in fact slavery like energy only transforms.Even the 14th amendment says slavery is abolished exept as a form of servitude after being convicted.Homeland security is infringing on almost every civil liberty we thought we had. But we as black people choose to remain dumb,deaf and blind to all the facts.Martial law and the police state we live in is slavery!
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By: Susan on 4/12/2007 8:12PM
This is bullshit. Goodbye MSNBC. Goodbye NBC. Goodbye CBS. If there were a White Voices blog, we'd be called racist. Can't win, whitey.
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By: Joe on 4/12/2007 7:17PM
In response to Zayid, if you don't like the country then get out... what's the point of living in a country that is still holding you down.... move to France...
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