As Don Imus fought in vain to keep his job, the embattled radio host argued that rappers routinely "defame and demean black women" and call them "worse names than I ever did."
April 14, 2007 (Press Release) --
As Don Imus fought in vain to keep his job, the embattled radio host argued that rappers routinely "defame and demean black women" and call them "worse names than I ever did."
That's an argument many people made as the fallout intensified, culminating with Imus' firing on Thursday for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Now that Imus has been silenced (for the moment), some critics are moving down the radio dial to take on hip-hop, boosting the growing movement against the harmful themes in rap.
"We all know where the real battleground is," wrote Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock. "We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show."
Pointing out that the rapper Mims uses "ho" and worse epithets in his chart-topping song "This Is Why I'm Hot," columnist Michelle Malkin asked: "What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage from young, black rappers and their music-industry enablers?"
The Rev. DeForest B. Soaries Jr., who as pastor of the Rutgers coach helped mediate the Imus imbroglio, said Friday that he is organizing a nationwide initiative to address the culture that "has produced language that has denigrated women."
"We have to begin working on a response to the larger problem," he said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, among the loudest critics calling for Imus' termination, indicated that entertainment is the next battleground. "We will not stop until we make it clear that no one should denigrate women," he said after Imus' firing. "We must deal with the fact that ho and the b-word are words that are wrong from anybody's lips.
"It would be wrong if we stopped here and acted like Imus was the only problem. There are others that need to get this same message."
It is a message that was spreading even before Imus' comments.
After "Seinfeld" actor Michael Richards was castigated for a racist on-stage rant, the New York City Council passed a symbolic resolution banning the n-word, and other cities around the country have passed similar measures.
Cultural critic, author and columnist Stanley Crouch, a longtime foe of rap music, suspected the Imus ordeal would galvanize young black women across the country. He said a key moment was when the Rutgers players appeared at a news conference this week poised, dignified and defying stereotypes seen in rap videos and "dumb" comedies.
"When the public got to see these women, what they were, it was kind of shocking," Crouch said. "It made accepting the denigration not quite as comfortable as it had been for far too long."
Source: http://movies.yahoo.com
That's an argument many people made as the fallout intensified, culminating with Imus' firing on Thursday for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos." Now that Imus has been silenced (for the moment), some critics are moving down the radio dial to take on hip-hop, boosting the growing movement against the harmful themes in rap.
"We all know where the real battleground is," wrote Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock. "We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show."
Pointing out that the rapper Mims uses "ho" and worse epithets in his chart-topping song "This Is Why I'm Hot," columnist Michelle Malkin asked: "What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage from young, black rappers and their music-industry enablers?"
The Rev. DeForest B. Soaries Jr., who as pastor of the Rutgers coach helped mediate the Imus imbroglio, said Friday that he is organizing a nationwide initiative to address the culture that "has produced language that has denigrated women."
"We have to begin working on a response to the larger problem," he said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, among the loudest critics calling for Imus' termination, indicated that entertainment is the next battleground. "We will not stop until we make it clear that no one should denigrate women," he said after Imus' firing. "We must deal with the fact that ho and the b-word are words that are wrong from anybody's lips.
"It would be wrong if we stopped here and acted like Imus was the only problem. There are others that need to get this same message."
It is a message that was spreading even before Imus' comments.
After "Seinfeld" actor Michael Richards was castigated for a racist on-stage rant, the New York City Council passed a symbolic resolution banning the n-word, and other cities around the country have passed similar measures.
Cultural critic, author and columnist Stanley Crouch, a longtime foe of rap music, suspected the Imus ordeal would galvanize young black women across the country. He said a key moment was when the Rutgers players appeared at a news conference this week poised, dignified and defying stereotypes seen in rap videos and "dumb" comedies.
"When the public got to see these women, what they were, it was kind of shocking," Crouch said. "It made accepting the denigration not quite as comfortable as it had been for far too long."
Source: http://movies.yahoo.com
Email
Print
SPAM
LEAVE A COMMENT
