Commentary

EDITOR'S NOTE:

This commentary is about the firing of Don Imus by CBS and whether or not that is the solution.

April 12, 2007

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?

I 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 could 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.

And 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?

About Ms. Cannick

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.