Rappers As Weapons Of Mass Destruction

[bigirl]

Beyond Bitches and Hoes

Beyond Bitches and Hoes
A new documentary challenges the conventions of mainstream hyper-masculine hip-hop

By Suemedha Sood, University of Virginia

When I met you last night baby
Before you opened up your gap
I had respect for ya lady
But now I take it all back
-Snoop Doggy Dogg

From the window to the wall
To the sweat drop down my balls
All you bitches crawl
-Lil Jon and the Eastside Boyz

Man this hoe you can have her, when I’m done I ain’t gon keep her
Man, bitches come and go, every nigga pimpin know
-50 Cent

Ah, the sweet sound of misogyny. It hits me every time I turn on the radio. Turning on the TV is even worse. Video after video on BET and MTV accosts us with images of rappers throwing money at half naked women. And mainstream hip hop is more popular than ever. But if sex and violence sell—particularly when combined—there’s nothing anybody can do about it, right? That’s what the record companies want us to believe as they focus on the bottom line. Fortunately, they don’t have everyone convinced.

A young filmmaker by the name of Byron Hurt is challenging structures of violence, hyper-aggression, and misogyny that have become so characteristic of mainstream hip hop with his new film Beyond Beats and Rhymes: Masculinity in Hip Hop Culture. Over the course of his 60-minute documentary, Byron tackles and deconstructs the machismo that has come to underlie a lot of popular hip-hop culture in an effort to tackle issues of sexism, violence, misogyny, and homophobia.

“So much of the ills in our society come from the way we men define manhood,” says Byron. “I want this film to really get men to question and to challenge the way we’re socialized and conditioned to be men” Byron began his study of black masculinity when making the film I am a Man: Black Masculinity in America. An anti-sexism activist, he is formerly the associate director of Mentors in Violence Prevention for the Marine Corps, the first worldwide gender violence prevention program in the history of the United States Marine Corps. He has held countless training workshops and lectures for US Marines, male student-athletes, fraternity members, other male students, coaches, activists, and educators on college and high school campuses across the country. Byron stresses the need to educate boys and men in the African-American community about what it means to be male in American society. Encouraging such discourse among boys and men can help break down issues of violence, gender roles, sexism, homophobia, and even racism in our culture.

Throughout this impressive film, Byron interviews rappers like Fat Joe, Chuck D, Talib Kweli, and Mos Def. He also speaks with a variety of hip hop scholars and historians, and attempts to take on some of the major executives in the hip hop industry who have neglected the problem. Perhaps most poignant, however, are his interactions with kids. In one scene, he captures the voices of a few young aspiring rappers spewing out words of hate, violence, and sexism for the camera as they freestyle. When Byron challenges them, they respond the same waythat many in the industry do: That’s what sells. That’s how you get paid. No one wants to hear anything positive, so why even try?

Don’t be mistaken. Beyond Beats and Rhymes is not a crusade to change the face of the mainstream music industry. “I’m not naïve,” says Byron. “I don’t think my film is going to change the hip hop industry. It’s an amoral business culture. They’re not concerned about changing society, they’re concerned about making money. So I focus on how this affects the people who see this film.” Instead, the film asks its viewers to open their minds and be self-reflective. “It’s up to us as consumers to challenge some of the representations of masculinity that we see in American culture,” he says. “We have to start saying, ‘I don’t buy into this idea that a man is supposed to be violent or sexist or homophobic.’”

Sabrina Gordon, the film’s editor, expresses concern about the limited scope of images and representations of the black community in commercial, mainstream hip-hop. “There’s a certain disconnect between what’s commercial and the culture as a whole,” she says. In an effort to combat these stereotypical images, Beyond Beats and Rhymes explores some of the more socially conscious and politically substantive voices that play a prominent role in the world of underground hip-hop and rap. Sabrina wants to get across that socially conscious music does not have to be preaching. It is still hip-hop, driving beats, same compelling lyrical flow, but “it’s not preaching, but it touches on a range of human experiences.”

In the film, Byron asks why it’s nearly impossible to find provocative, meaningful, intelligent lyrics in the mainstream. He asks why it seems we have to dig and dig to gain access to such artistic endeavor. As much as he promotes more politically and socially conscious artists such as Dead Prez or The Coup, Byron finds it problematic that it is so difficult to gain access to their music. “I think the biggest thing is that it doesn’t have the credibility that the mainstream hip hop has because it doesn’t get the marketing, the promotion, the coverage, and the exposure that the mainstream hip hop gets,” he says. “From what I hear, we would be surprised how much people are listening to underground hip hop. But I still think it’s not as accessible as it should be.”

While casting a critical eye on the exploitative corporate music industry, it also demands accountability from the viewer and consumer. The film forces us to ask ourselves, why are we buying what they’re selling us? Sabrina emphasizes the need to question how this buying and selling impacts the way we see ourselves and others. “What is the impact of selling a certain identity of black and brown men?” she asks. “What consequence does it have for men who already feel compelled to live up to a hyper-masculine image?”

Sabrina repeatedly stresses that Beyond Beats and Rhymes has no intention of promoting censorship in any way, but instead wants to encourage thoughtful engagement. “We’re not talking about censorship. We’re asking the question, is this an idea that we should be selling and perpetuating and consuming thoughtlessly?”

Beyond Beats and Rhymes may be coming to a college campus near you – Byron is determined to use the film as an educational outreach tool and has begun screening it at colleges across the nation. He even plans on creating a curriculum to be taught in conjunction with the documentary at both college and high school levels. “I use the opportunities I get when I visit colleges to show this film because I think that’s one place where young people are engaging in critical thinking,” he says. “They are there to learn, they’re there to push their own consciousness and I think that’s a really great place for change to begin happening.” Byron also hopes to use this film in prisons and juvenile detention centers where he thinks many men have bought into the idea perpetuated by our society that masculinity is just one thing.

The film is set to air on PBS later this year. Byron and Sabrina, though delighted to have the opportunity to reach a wider audience, are trying to encourage their community to tune in to a channel mostly beloved by our parent’s generation. “People say that black people in the hip hop generation don’t watch PBS,” Byron notes, “and one of my goals is to attract a large hip-hop audience to PBS.”

Find out more about the film and the filmmaker at www.bhurt.com. Visit The Independent Television Service and The National Black Programming Consortium to send feedback about the project or to learn about similar endeavors in television and film.

Suemedha Sood is a junior at the University of Virginia.
An aspiring activist and journalist, she is currently Co-President of the UVA chapter of the Informed Voters Foundation and a contributing writer for WireTap Magazine

 

[actinanass]

Re: Beyond Bitches and Hoes

2 more slots on the fantasy league.....

remember, the season starts in 22 days!!!!

 

[bigirl]

In light of the disturbing misogyny directed at black women through the practice of calling them bitches and hoes, I think everyone should watch this video to understand why it’s an undeserving invective. Such defamatory epithets should never be spoken about a woman, even if she is portraying herself as such. Instead of reinforcing it, teach her about the lineage of her queenliness and present to her examples that don’t include the unsophisticated raunchiness of Ms. New York from Flava Flav’s show Flavor of Love or the video vixen, Karrine Steffans, all women who embarrassingly degrade themselves, in my opinion. Also, remind the men that it was a woman who brought them into the world; the same woman who may have also suffered the same undeserving tongue-lashing of being called a bitch and ho. Institute in their minds that women are to be crowned instead of stoned with those cruel words, and that black culture doesn’t need to portray that negativity through media, music, and urban living. Let’s stop this demeaning mentality; the same ignorant mentality of New York Knicks’ Coach, Isaiah Thomas, who said he wouldn't stand for a white man calling a black woman a "bitch" - but wouldn't be as angry if the same words came from the mouth of a black man. That double standard mentality is absolutely backwards and simply wrong; a poor representation for the young generation who is being fed this nonsense. Let’s put an end to this. Watch this video, and become enlightened.

[flash]http://www.youtube.com/v/rPBH57BWhpE[/flash]

 

[onyxfemme]

Re: Why women are not bitches and hoes

I have actually seen this. It is a great documentary.
Good post

 

[bigirl]

Sexism and Misogyny: Who Takes the Rap?

Misogyny, gangsta rap, and The Piano

By bell hooks

For the past several months white mainstream media has been calling me to hear my views on gangsta rap. Whether major television networks, or small independent radio shows, they seek me out for the black and feminist "take" on the issue. After I have my say, I am never called back, never invited to do the television shows or the radio spots. I suspect they call, confident that when we talk they will hear the hardcore "feminist" trash of gangsta rap. When they encounter instead the hardcore feminist critique of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, they lose interest.

To white dominated mass media, the controversy over gangsta rap makes great spectacle. Besides the exploitation of these issues to attract audiences, a central motivation for highlighting gangsta rap continues to be the sensationalist drama of demonizing black youth culture in general and the contributions of young black men in particular. It is a contemporary remake of "Birth of a Nation" only this time we are encouraged to believe it is not just vulnerable white womanhood that risks destruction by black hands but everyone. When I counter this demonization of black males by insisting that gangsta rap does not appear in a cultural vacuum, but, rather, is expressive of the cultural crossing, mixings, and engagement of black youth culture with the values, attitudes, and concerns of the white majority, some folks stop listening.

The sexist, misogynist, patriarchal ways of thinking and behaving that are glorified in gangsta rap are a reflection of the prevailing values in our society, values created and sustained by white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. As the crudest and most brutal expression of sexism, misogynistic attitudes tend to be portrayed by the dominant culture as an expression of male deviance. In reality they are part of a sexist continuum, necessary for the maintenance of patriarchal social order. While patriarchy and sexism continue to be the political and cultural norm in our society, feminist movement has created a climate where crude expressions of male domination are called into question, especially if they are made by men in power. It is useful to think of misogyny as a field that must be labored in and maintained both to sustain patriarchy but also to serve as an ideological anti-feminist backlash. And what better group to labor on this "plantation" than young black men.

To see gangsta rap as a reflection of dominant values in our culture rather than as an aberrant "pathological" standpoint does not mean that a rigorous feminist critique of the sexist and misogyny expressed in this music is not needed. Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism. Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the behaviors this thinking supports and condones,--rape, male violence against women, etc.-- is a black male thing. And this is what is happening. Young black males are forced to take the "heat" for encouraging, via their music, the hatred of and violence against women that is a central core of patriarchy.

Witness the recent piece by Brent Staples in the "New York Times" titled "The Politics of Gangster Rap: A Music Celebrating Murder and Misogyny." Defining the turf Staples writes: "For those who haven't caught up, gangster rap is that wildly successful music in which all women are `bitches' and `whores' and young men kill each other for sport." No mention of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy in this piece, not a word about the cultural context that would need to exist for young males to be socialized to think differently about gender. Staples assumes that black males are writing their lyrics off in the "jungle," away from the impact of mainstream socialization and desire. At no point in his piece does he ask why huge audiences, especially young white male consumers, are so turned on by this music, by the misogyny and sexism, by the brutality? Where is the anger and rage at females expressed in this music coming from, the glorification of all acts of violence? These are the difficult questions that Staples feels no need to answer.

One cannot answer them honestly without placing accountability on larger structures of domination and the individuals (often white, usually male but not always) who are hierarchically placed to maintain and perpetuate the values that uphold these exploitative and oppressive systems. That means taking a critical looking at the politics of hedonistic consumerism, the values of the men and women who produce gangsta rap. It would mean considering the seduction of young black males who find that they can make more money producing lyrics that promote violence, sexism, and misogyny than with any other content. How many disenfranchised black males would not surrender to expressing virulent forms of sexism, if they knew the rewards would be unprecedented material power and fame?

More than anything gangsta rap celebrates the world of the "material, " the dog-eat-dog world where you do what you gotta do to make it. In this world view killing is necessary for survival. Significantly, the logic here is a crude expression of the logic of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. In his new book "Sexy Dressing, Etc." privileged white male law professor Duncan Kennedy gives what he calls "a set of general characterizations of U. S. culture" explaining that, "It is individual (cowboys), material (gangsters) and philistine." Using this general description of mainstream culture would lead us to place "gangsta rap" not on the margins of what this nation is about, but at the center. Rather than being viewed as a subversion or disruption of the norm we would need to see it as an embodiment of the norm.

That viewpoint was graphically highlighted in the film "Menace To Society" which dramatized not only young black males killing for sport, but also mass audiences voyeuristically watching and, in many cases, "enjoying" the kill. Significantly, at one point in the movie we see that the young black males have learned their "gangsta" values from watching television and movies--shows where white male gangsters are center stage. This scene undermines any notion of "essentialist" blackness that would have viewers believe the gangsterism these young black males embraced emerged from some unique black cultural experience.

When I interviewed rap artist Ice Cube for "Spin" magazine last year, he talked about the importance of respecting black women and communication across gender. He spoke against male violence against women, even as he lapsed into a justification for anti- woman rap lyrics by insisting on the madonna/whore split where some females "carry" themselves in a manner that determines how they will be treated. When this interview was published, it was cut to nothing. It was a mass media set-up. Folks (mostly white and male) had thought if the hardcore feminist talked with the hardened black man, sparks would fly; there would be a knock-down drag out spectacle. When Brother Cube and I talked to each other with respect about the political, spiritual, and emotional self- determination of black people, it did not make good copy. Clearly folks at the magazine did not get the darky show they were looking for.

After this conversation, and talking with rappers and folks who listen to rap, it became clear that while black male sexism is a serious problem in our communities and in black music, some of the more misogynist lyrics were there to stir up controversy and appeal to audiences. Nowhere is this more evident that in Snoop Doggy Dogg's record "Doggystyle". A black male music and cultural critic called me to ask if I had checked this image out; to share that for one of the first times in his music buying life he felt he was seeing an image so offensive in its sexism and misogyny that he did not want to take that image home. That image (complete with doghouse, beware the dog sign, with a naked black female head in a doghouse, naked butt sticking out) was reproduced, "uncritically," in the November 29, 1993 issue of "Time" magazine. The positive music review of this album, written by Christopher John Farley, is titled "Gangsta Rap, Doggystyle" makes no mention of sexism and misogyny, makes no reference to the cover. I wonder if a naked white female body had been inside the doghouse, presumably waiting to be fucked from behind, if "Time" would have reproduced an image of the cover along with their review. When I see the pornographic cartoon that graces the cover of "Doggystyle," I do not think simply about the sexism and misogyny of young black men, I think about the sexist and misogynist politics of the powerful white adult men and women (and folks of color) who helped produce and market this album.

In her book "Misogynies" Joan Smith shares her sense that while most folks are willing to acknowledge unfair treatment of women, discrimination on the basis of gender, they are usually reluctant to admit that hatred of women is encouraged because it helps maintain the structure of male dominance. Smith suggests: "Misogyny wears many guises, reveals itself in different forms which are dictated by class, wealth, education, race, religion and other factors, but its chief characteristic is its pervasiveness." This point reverberated in my mind when I saw Jane Campion's widely acclaimed film "The Piano" which I saw in the midst of mass media focus on sexism and misogyny in "gangsta rap." I had been told by many friends in the art world that this was "an incredible film, a truly compelling love story etc." Their responses were echoed by numerous positive reviews. No one speaking about this film mentions misogyny and sexism or white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.

The 19th century world of the white invasion of New Zealand is utterly romanticized in this film (complete with docile happy darkies--Maori natives--who appear to have not a care in the world). And when the film suggests they care about white colonizers digging up the graves of their dead ancestors, it is the sympathetic poor white male who comes to the rescue. Just as the conquest of natives and lands is glamorized in this film, so is the conquest of femininity, personified by white womanhood, by the pale speechless corpse-like Scotswoman, Ada, who journeys into this dark wilderness because her father has arranged for her to marry the white colonizer Stewart. Although mute, Ada expresses her artistic ability, the intensity of her vision and feelings through piano playing. This passion attracts Baines, the illiterate white settler who wears the facial tattoos of the Maori--an act of appropriation that makes him (like the traditional figure of Tarzan) appear both dangerous and romantic. He is Norman Mailer's "white negro," seducing Ada by promising to return the piano that Steward has exchanged with him for land. The film leads us to believe that Ada's passionate piano playing has been a substitution for repressed eroticism. When she learns to let herself go sexually, she ceases to need the piano. We watch the passionate climax of Baines seduction as she willingly seeks him sexually. And we watch her husband Stewart in the role of voyeur, standing with dog outside the cabin where they fuck, voyeuristically consuming their pleasure. Rather than being turned off by her love for Baines, it appears to excite Stewart's passion; he longs to possess her all the more. Unable to win her back from Baines, he expresses his rage, rooted in misogyny and sexism, by physically attacking her and chopping off her finger with an ax. This act of male violence takes place with Ada's daughter, Flora, as a witness. Though traumatized by the violence she witnesses, she is still about to follow the white male patriarch's orders and take the bloody finger to Baines, along with the message that each time he sees Ada she will suffer physical mutilation.

Violence against land, natives, and women in this film, unlike that of gangsta rap, is portrayed uncritically, as though it is "natural," the inevitable climax of conflicting passions. The outcome of this violence is positive. Ultimately, the film suggests Stewart's rage was only an expression of irrational sexual jealousy, that he comes to his senses and is able to see "reason." In keeping with male exchange of women, he gives Ada and Flora to Baines. They leave the wilderness. On the voyage home Ada demands that her piano be thrown overboard because it is "soiled," tainted with horrible memories. Surrendering it she lets go of her longing to display passion through artistic expression. A nuclear family now, Baines, Ada, and Flora resettle and live happily-ever-after. Suddenly, patriarchal order is restored. Ada becomes a modest wife, wearing a veil over her mouth so that no one will see her lips struggling to speak words. Flora has no memory of trauma and is a happy child turning somersaults. Baines is in charge, even making Ada a new finger.

"The Piano "seduces and excites audiences with its uncritical portrayal of sexism and misogyny. Reviewers and audiences alike seem to assume that Campion's gender, as well as her breaking of traditional boundaries that inhibit the advancement of women in film, indicate that her work expresses a feminist standpoint. And, indeed, she does employ feminist "tropes," even as her work betrays feminist visions of female actualization, celebrates and eroticizes male domination. In Smith's discussion of misogyny she emphasizes that woman-hating is not solely the province of men: "We are all exposed to the prevailing ideology of our culture, and some women learn early on that they can prosper by aping the misogyny of men; these are the women who win provisional favor by denigrating other women, by playing on male prejudices, and by acting the `man's woman'." Since this is not a documentary film that needs to remain faithful to the ethos of its historical setting, why is it that Campion does not resolve Ada's conflicts by providing us with an imaginary landscape where a woman can express passionate artistic commitment and find fulfillment in a passionate relationship? This would be no more far-fetched than her cinematic portrayal of Ada's miraculous transformation from muteness into speech. Ultimately, Campion's "The Piano" advances the sexist assumption that heterosexual women will give up artistic practice to find "true love." That "positive" surrender is encouraged by the "romantic" portrayal of sexism and misogyny.

While I do not think that young black male rappers have been rushing in droves to see "The Piano", there is a bond between those folks involved with high culture who celebrate and condone the sexist ideas and values upheld in this film and those who celebrate and condone "gangsta rap." Certainly Kennedy's description of the United States as a "cowboy, gangster, philistine" culture would also accurately describe the culture evoked in "The Piano". Popular movies that are seen by young black males, for example "Indecent Proposal, MadDog and Glory, True Romance", and "One False Move", all eroticize male domination expressed via the exchange of women, as well as the subjugation of other men, through brutal violence.

Contrary to a racist white imagination which assumes that most young black males, especially those who are poor, live in a self- created cultural vacuum, uninfluenced by mainstream, cultural values, it is the application of those values, largely learned through passive uncritical consumption of mass media, that is revealed in "gangsta rap." Brent Staples is willing to challenge the notion that "urban primitivism is romantic" when it suggests that black males become "real men" by displaying the will to do violence, yet he remains resolutely silent about that world of privileged white culture that has historically romanticized primitivism, and eroticized male violence. Contemporary films like "Reservoir Dogs" and "The Bad Lieutenant" celebrate urban primitivism and many less well done films ("Trespass, Rising Sun") create and/or exploit the cultural demand for depictions of hardcore blacks who are willing to kill for sport.

To take "gangsta rap" to task for its sexism and misogyny while critically accepting and perpetuating those expressions of that ideology which reflect bourgeois standards (no rawness, no vulgarity) is not to call for a transformation of the culture of patriarchy. Ironically, many black male ministers, themselves sexist and misogynist, are leading the attacks against gangsta rap. Like the mainstream world that supports white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, they are most concerned with calling attention to the vulgar obscene portrayals of women to advance the cause of censorship. For them, rethinking and challenging sexism, both in the dominant culture and in black life, is not the issue.

Mainstream white culture is not concerned about black male sexism and misogyny, particularly when it is unleashed against black women and children. It is concerned when young white consumers utilize black popular culture to disrupt bourgeois values. Whether it be the young white boy who expresses his rage at his mother by aping black male vernacular speech (a true story) or the masses of young white males (and middle class men of color) seeking to throw off the constraints of bourgeois bondage who actively assert in their domestic households via acts of aggression their rejection of the call to be "civilized. " These are the audiences who feel such a desperate need for gangsta rap. It is much easier to attack gangsta rap than to confront the culture that produces that need.

Gangsta rap is part of the anti-feminist backlash that is the rage right now. When young black males labor in the plantations of misogyny and sexism to produce gangsta rap, their right to speak this violence and be materially rewarded is extended to them by white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. Far from being an expression of their "manhood," it is an expression of their own subjugation and humiliation by more powerful, less visible forces of patriarchal gangsterism. They give voice to the brutal raw anger and rage against women that it is taboo for "civilized" adult men to speak. No wonder then that they have the task of tutoring the young, teaching them to eroticize and enjoy the brutal expressions of that rage (teaching them language and acts) before they learn to cloak it in middle-class decorum or Robert Bly style reclaimings of lost manhood. The tragedy for young black males is that they are so easily dunned by a vision of manhood that can only lead to their destruction.

Feminist critiques of the sexism and misogyny in gangsta rap, and in all aspects of popular culture, must continue to be bold and fierce. Black females must not be duped into supporting shit that hurts us under the guise of standing beside our men. If black men are betraying us through acts of male violence, we save ourselves and the race by resisting. Yet, our feminist critiques of black male sexism fail as meaningful political intervention if they seek to demonize black males, and do not recognize that our revolutionary work is to transform white supremacist capitalist patriarchy in the multiple areas of our lives where it is made manifest, whether in gangsta rap, the black church, or the Clinton administration.

 

[bigirl]

Rappers As Weapons Of Mass Destruction
Black Star News, Commentary , Dr. Barbara Reynolds, Posted: Mar 18, 2009

Singer Chris Brown’s arrest for allegedly beating and biting his girlfriend, pop princess Rihanna, on the same night vulgar rapper Lil Wayne, was being lauded with four Grammy awards is a reminder of how thuggish rap culture creates a climate for not only male-on male violence but abuse of Black women as well.

On one level Brown was only doing what the environment created by hustlers like Lil Wayne and his White backers promote. When the dope-using, pornographic rappers aren’t bragging about how good they are at killing other Blacks, they swagger around calling Black women "bitches and sluts" and showing their agility at dogging and abusing them.

In fact, Snoop Dogg once showed up at the MTV Video Awards accompanied by partially clad girls being pulled along by dog leashes.

The White establishment is applauding this behavior by elevating the thug music that glorifies killing, maiming and abuse to great fortunes. After all the thugs are only killing Black men and abusing Black women. What a great victory for White supremacists, who no longer need the KKK.

Blacks brandishing guns and a pimp mentality are destroying each other faster than White militants could ever dream of.

Mainstream Time magazine in their July 2008 issues headlined Lil Wayne as the Best Rapper Alive. The magazine took great pleasure in commending him for how well he could rhyme "day" with "say" and "way." Those sophomoric rhymes are worthy of praise for five-year-olds but for a grown man? Give me a break.

What else does Lil Wayne advocate that makes mainstream America love him so much? His "lollipop" number was honored as Best Rap Song. It is all about having the so-called "fun and games" of oral sex, of young girls licking him like a lollipop before regular intercourse.

Of course, the promoters would not honor any artist who also talks about how HIV/AIDS is epidemic among black youth and how now 72 percent of household are headed up by single black women, who means the boys and men are missing in action as soon as the babies come.

Another song which the Grammys saw worthy of honor was included in Wayne’s latest album, Tha Carter III. With all the media hype behind it, it sold over one million copies the first week. If there is any doubt what Wayne thinks about women, the lyrics make it plain: "I ain’t got no loves for broads, I grab them on they butts and all." Then he goes on to sing about how wonderful it is for his girls (sluts) to have oral sex with his dog.

It is not hard for me to understand why white led-media and music institutions want to honor blacks who entertain them with low-life, illiterate rantings, while creating a climate of death and destruction for black people. But I can not understand why so much of the black establishment—the pastors, civil rights institutions and universities—accept this standard without protesting their outrage at the systematic destruction of our young.

The major themes of most rap songs are Guns, drugs, death and destruction. And with the help of white corporations they are reaping a rich harvest.

For example, homicide is the leading cause of death for black males between the ages of 18 and 24; 94 percent of blacks murdered are murdered by other blacks, usually men.

Our black women, whose images are being dragged through the mud not only in rap videos, but in movies, are increasingly being raped and beat. Black women are 35% more likely to be sexually and physically assaulted than white women. And one in 4 girls is in danger of being raped by age 18. Every 45 seconds a woman is physically assaulted, according to the National Victims Center.

Big bucks, of course, are fueling this genocidal assault. Women-hating rappers whine about how the man won’t fund them if they don’t go violent and after all they are only giving the public want they want. The argument is that titles like Get Rich or Die Trying will sell, but uplifting songs won’t. If that is so, why aren’t Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson broke?

No amount of money should make black rappers stoop so low as to scandalize black women, whose birth canals are their very entry into humanity. They insult our mothers, daughters and sisters. They are no different from the 19th century white slave masters who paraded half naked black women to the public square to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Unfortunately, the self-esteem of so many young black women, have fallen so low that they too see themselves as half nude butt-shaking objects, who can be sold for group sex, drugs or background filth for videos. They are faceless, pride-less, pitiful creatures who are agree they should be treated like dogs.

In the case of Chris Brown, Wrigley is pulling his chewing gun ad and RadioNOW, a black- owned Radio One network affiliate, is taking a stand by not playing his music. All that is good.

Yet, until the black establishment protests groups like Lil Wayne, who white corporations are paying to sing and dance the death jig, the beat down of black women will still be viewed by many as acceptable behavior for black men.
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=9ce0012f54ef9a46f362a43fe710bb10

 

[onyxfemme]

I hope no one minds as the 4 posts were merged as they were all very similar in topic.


Thanks,
Onyx