Phenoms Answer "Bitch Slappin’ Hos"

The Phenomenal Women Group answers columnist, Jasmyne A. Cannick’s "Bitch Slappin’ Hos" commentary on Imus, Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly . . . See the original commenatry by Cannick at the end of this article.

The Phenomenal Women Group answers columnist, Jasmyne A. Cannick’s “Bitch Slappin’ Hos” commentary on Imus, Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly . . . See the original commenatry by Cannick at the end of this article.

Phenom, Oshi says:

Why is everyone upset over Don Imus?  He is doing no less than our rappers, poets, and movie producers.  What Don Imus said is absolutely wrong!  Making that ultimately clear, let me also say,  Snoop Dogg is wrong, Nelly is wrong, the Ying Yang Twins are wrong, and the ugly, vile list goes on and on.

Black folks, stop being hypocrites.  Black people don’t use the word any differently than Whites.   Being Black and using racially negative words is no less derogatory coming from another Black person.  Whether you realize it or not, you are being hurt.  Racial slurs should hurt worse coming from one of our own.   Each time you hear racial slurs and you accept it then you are.

1 – living down your potential
2 – degrading another person of color
3 – re-affirming racism
4 – you are claiming and owning a word that was not
ours and does not describe us.
5 –  you are showing your ignorance.

I know many of you will not agree.  I also know many black folks who became angry had CD’s in their cars, homes, offices and ipods that were much worse than what Imus said.  Ya’ll dance and get your fun on to that ignorant mess.

If our goal is to truly clean house then we must not stop with Don Imus.  We must also shut down Snoop Dogg, Howard Stern, BET, (Bigoted Entertainment TV), MTV, (Manipulation Training Vehicle) and more.  Cleaning house doesn’t mean just taking out the trash.  We have to wash the dishes, sweep the floors and mop, clean the counters, dust, do laundry and disinfect. That’s what cleaning house means. 

The firing of Don Imus is just like taking out only the bathroom trash, not cleaning anything else and wondering why the house looks bad and still has a serious STANK!  The reason is clear people We haven’t cleaned a DARN THING!  The world knows it and they are laughing at us.

If you don’t like this then don’t get over it!  Get educated and stop the cycle of post traumatic slave disorder now!!!

The only thing we are free to do is grow and change for the better.

Signed,
in love with my people

Oshi


Phenom, D. Lewis says:

I agree with you 200% !

Did you hear what Snoop said when he was interviewed about Imus? Gurl, he said that when he refers to women as “hoes” and “bitches” he is talking about the ladies in the hood that are lazy and looking for men to take care of them. I almost fell out the chair.
 
Well we know that since Imus, the White guy, called the Rutgers team “nappy headed hoes” all hell broke out, but how come no one said anything to Snoop when his song with R Kelly begins with, “Your royal penis is cleaned your heiness.” What dumb girl agreed to do that?
 
Anyhow, I have mixed feelings with Imus being fired. On the same hand, the rappers are saying whatever they want and Brotha AL and Rev. Jess ain’t said nothing about it til now??
 
To answer your question on who’s the winner, gurl, I don’t know but I do know that we as a race are losing ground, respecting our Black women and our race, in general.
 
Sad, but true.
 
Thanx for the article.
 

Phenom, Wadiya Legette says:

Everyone is going to be held accountable now after this, including “us”. Whites aren’t the only ones.  Prejudice Blacks get slick at the mouth about Whites, as well. Blacks just don’t admit to it or want to talk about it. Get ready, it’s going to be tit for tat from now on with broadcasting

Phenom, Ashonta Langdon says:
I think we also need to boycott the radio stations and music channels that play music/videos that degrade women in general by calling them hoes and b’s. They may “bleep” out the words, but anybody can infer what they are saying. If we want people to stop calling us n’s, we need to stop accepting it from ourselves as well.

Phenom, Facesx2 says:
Hey I hear you but this is a battle we as women need to spearhead! We have to instill in our male children that women are not what these artists portray us to be. It’s a long battle and a hard one. The reason being is, some feel that they’re just words and we should just accept it because it makes us dance.  Not only do we have to teach our male children, but we need to teach our girls who grow up to become women that we are MORE than just some B*&%^ who dances on this rapper’s videos.  We are women who respect ourselves with our clothes on. We have plenty of women who have voices who can sperahead this issue. Like I said — we as women need to spearhead the issue to let ALL men, not just rappers, know that we are very much serious about this issue.

Phenom, Kerin AndersonJohnson says:

This commentary is about the program where Imus referred to the Rutgers Girl’s Basketball team as ‘nappy headed hoes (slang for whores). As a Black American, I feel that this reference was a serious affront to what these girls did and are doing to better themselves! These women are star athletes and college educated!!!! Despite what frequents song and prose on the airwaves these days, I for one am not a whore, bitch, or any other demeaning adjective thought of or held as a vision or an accurate depiction of what a woman is or what she stands for.  I am a person first, a mother, and a citizen!!! What makes this situation even worse is that Imus has influence worldwide, and his comments have weight. People listen. It says to the world that regardless of what you do or how you carry yourself as a Black woman, we, (the status quo) still view you as unworthy, dirty, and lower class. It is shameful and Mr. Imus should be held accountable for his actions!!! I am sure that even as radically opinionated as he is, he uses caution, decorum and censure whenever he refers to people who are of the Jewish faith, who just so happens to own the very station that he broadcasts from.

Also, just to clarify the acceptable from the unacceptable: Some language or use of tongue is okay when used within your circle of friends and family. The words used in jest or even as an expression of endearment are only acceptable from a particular group that shares a common bond of understanding. You see, we as Blacks know that ‘certain terms’ have and hold a special meaning to us apart from those of our former oppressors. It is our way, at times, of saying, “Despite what ‘they’ think or hear, I still love you, my Brother/my Sister.” Ironic isn’t it?  Yet, anytime derogatory terms are ever used by those outside the ‘knowing group,’ it will always be received as a put-down and an insult, especially when the roles of the oppressor and the oppressed have not changed very much.

Moreover, I do not subscribe to the notion that demeaning expression to womankind, Black women in particular, is fine just because our culture is now part of the ‘mainstream’. These people that hitherto were so callously described in such negative ways, are mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters and grandmothers. It is just not okay! We live in an era where power is still abused and greed still keeps people in ‘chains’. Words and impressions still hurt!

So, to go back to the forum where this transgression occurred, and give an apology will by no means solve, justify, or amend the situation.

Here’s the Original Commentary by Jasmyne A. Cannick:

COMMENTARY: THE “BITCH” SLAPPERS

CBS has announced that they have fired Don “Nappy-Headed Hos” Imus for his controversial comments regarding the Rutgers women’s  basketball team last week that caused a national outcry. So what? 


How about getting those “nigga lovin’, ho slappin’, bitch callin'” rappers dropped from their record labels? Can we get a national  protest on that?  Can I depend on Rev. Al and Rev. Jesse to spearhead that one in the same matter that they orchestrated Imus’ early retirement? That’s what I want to know as a Black woman.   Could Black America get behind a boycott of the radio stations and  television networks that play the songs and videos of rappers that  continuously degrade women with their lyrics by talking about how  and what they want to do to my body?

Could Black America for once and for all stop “steppin'” to R. “I Like to Have Sex With Underage Females” Kelly’s beats long enough to hear the lyrics of his billboard chart topping song that basically says, among other things, that he’s a flirt, he’s a pimp, your woman is a ho, all women are hos, he’s rich and cute and he’s going to have sex with anyone woman he wants?  didn’t see anyone camped outside Geffen Records for a protest against Snoop “I Beat my Case Again” Doggy Dogg’s record label.


I mean at the heart of this debate, young Blacks don’t know and couldn’t care less about a Don Imus. But they do know who all of these rappers are.  While they can’t seem to master the English language they can somehow recite all of the lyrics to some of the most  despicable chart topping songs out there. Now why is that?   Could it be that we spend way too much time focused on people who aren’t in the least bit an influence on our young children and not enough time educating them about the effects of using terms like  ho and bitch to describe women?

Imus is a nobody to me. He wasn’t even in my realm of consciousness until all of this madness kicked off. But everyday I step outside of my house, it never fails that a car will drive by bumping the lyrics of some rapper calling women bitches and hos.  The irony of the situation is that oftentimes the driver singing along with her kids in the backseat.

Please.  Going after the Imus’ of the world is an easy thing to do, but going after the 50 Cents, Snoop Doggs, and other rappers is the real challenge. And quite frankly, I don’t think Black America wants to take that battle on. We love them too much. We can’t even stop referring to each other as “nigga’s” so what is there to indicate that we’d be willing to stop supporting these rappers who demean women. 

The sad thing is, while we’re busy making the executives at these labels millionaires ten times over, we’re the ones that are struggling with children who don’t respect us or themselves, thus ensuring that there’s another generate In on of mis-educated and ignorant Blacks to continue supporting these artists. In other words, the cycle continues.

Just because we were brought over here as slaves doesn’t mean that we have to keep the slave mentality. Imus losing his job isn’t going to do anything to change the deep rooted culture of self-disrespect in the Black community that is assisted by the legions of rap artists who promote the use of the word ho and bitch as an acceptable reference to the female sex.

In order for that to change, Black folks would have to take a long, hard look in the mirror at themselves and that’s something that we’ve been unwilling to do.

I swear, sometimes we’re our own worst enemy.  The Imus controversy will roll over and when it’s all said and done, he’ll still have more money than most of us will ever see in our lifetimes and we’ll still be “in the hood” talking about “G’s up and hos down” and how we “can’t stop won’t stop” calling each other bitches, hos and nigga’s.

So who’s the real winner, Imus or us?

Black Star News columnist, Jasmyne A. Cannick is a commentator/critic who addresses social, cultural, and race issues and is based in Los Angeles.  She can be reached via her website at www.jasmynecannick.com


To learn more about The Phenomenal Women Group, go to http://blackstarnews.com/?c=123&a=2169 or www.thephenomenalwomen.org

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