The 'H' Word

I am tired and sick of this. I am worried. Black people – my people - please stop acting as if we have no control over ourselves, our lives, our community, and our actions. Please stop blaming our problems on White people and their actions of the past. It connotes that we cannot unlearn things. It also directly implies that we cannot do what is in our best interest without help.

At some point, we – not White Americans – must take responsibility for our future. Yes, Don Imus was wrong. Yes, he is racist. He is sick and he is sexist. Mr. Imus must not and should not be allowed to continue spewing his vitriol and he will not be doing so via MSNBC  and CBS .

The real issue is that – generally speaking of course – no one gives a damn about Black women, especially Hip-hop and the Black Community. Well some do but check it.

Ludacris ‘got hoes in every area code’. He also recently won a 2006 Grammy for spewing words and making connotations about Black women that are worse than anything Don Imus said. And Ludacris is a role model!?!? Ice Cube and Ice Tee been rapping about ‘pimp slapping’ hoes for years. A few years ago, Snoop Dogg showed up at the MTV music awards with two women in dog chains and dog collars. Are those his so-called hoes? Remember Big Pimpin' by Jay-Z? or Vol. 2 Money, Cash, Hoes super-remix? Is Beyoncé his new hoe?

I think we have lost our moral consciousness and really lost our collective cultural mind. Not so inexplicably, the pimp has gone mainstream. Well, at least in Black America. And Black Entertainment Television (BET.com) is a principle purveyor and a primary conduit of the pimp culture and the ‘Black woman is a hoe’ mantra. A pimp like ‘Bishop Don Magic Juan’ is revered by some of youth and serves as Snoop Dogg’s “spiritual advisor”. Nelly is marketing and selling Pimp Juice.  Lil Jon and Yin Yang twins are self-proclaimed pimps.

If we cared about our women and our little girls, Robert Kelly (R Kelly) would be ostracized, exiled, banned and/or dead. R Kelly urinated on a 14-year old girl and it was videotaped! Is he responsible and accountable for his actions? Yes! He and some Black women have and continue to argue that he didn't know what he was doing, or he can’t help it that he likes young girls, or just maybe the 14 year old wanted it and even deserved it. Their logic, their rationale is “she ain’t nothing but a hoe anyway!” If that young girl was white, R Kelly would never be heard of again and he certainly would be allowed to continue to put out sexually implicit music.

If we cannot police our own, how can we expect to police others?  Recently, in an open public meeting in New Orleans a white man called the Director of Sanitation for the City of New Orleans a Bitch and she happen to be a Black woman.  This sexist commentary is public record and was printed in the local newspaper. The guy was not worried about the consequences of his actions, and had no inhibition about addressing this Black professional woman who happens to be a public official in such a manner. Ironically, neither do we.

At some point, we must realize that until we respect ourselves no one else will respect us. The action of any man calling any woman – not just a Black woman – a hoe is a despicable, deep cutting stab in the gut. For women, particularly Black women, it speaks to the history of rape, disrespect, and violation of our ancestors, grandmothers, mothers and our daughters. If we (men, Black men) respected our women more and had the moral conviction to act, then that violence against our women might have been mitigated. If we respected our women more, then maybe we would gather a posse, tie a few knots in some rope, find a tree, and commence to do to others as they have done unto us when were simply  accused of looking at, whistling at, and consequently dehumanized and killed for disrespecting a White women. Lest we forget Emmett Till.  Such barbaric action was not justified then, and is not justified now, but you get my point, maybe people disrespect Black women and not White women because subconsciously they know the consequences, so they consciously aim their misogyny and disrespect at those women, our women, sisters, mothers and daughters where they are no negative consequences, but actually reward, compensation and fame.

We must be willing to die for our women, our wives, our mothers, our sisters, our friends, and our daughters. Furthermore, if we are to unlearn this immoral behavior, then we must be against anyone and everyone – not just White people – who blatantly disrespect Black women or any woman. Until we challenge this mindset anywhere at anytime, the objectification, sexualization, and disrespect of our women will continue. Words are powerful and they are powerful regardless of the mouth that they may come from.

We have to love us to save us. We can no longer support, rationalize, defend, and coddle those who do not love us, whether they look like us or not!

Comments

[the01artist]

I love black women and I also am an artist and do the occasional nude drawing from time time. I do respect the women that I draw and try to show the highest compliment that I can give them through my artwork. Some people on the other hand don't respect the women of the world and just use them to gain profit. . .just sayin

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Impressive blog! -Arron

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No offense, but if there's a facebook like button, it'll be much easier for me to share.

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I just ignored it everytime i hear about it.

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what a glamour nigger, my god, amen
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[Monica]

I couldn't have said it better myself! Thank you for standing up for your fellow human beings!

[Trach]

Thanks Dr. Mackie,

I am a black woman and I for one do not appreciate the way I am disrespected in music and/or on reality TV shows. I am angry when people in White America are disrespectful, but I am even more enraged at Black America.

I work at an all white college and while leaving work I heard a group of students say “Nigga! Leave it, get in the car…” of course I was shocked and could not believe that a black student would allow such a thing to be said. I had to wait to see if it was a student I knew so we could have a conversation later. You can imagine how suprised I was when the car pass with a group of all white men in it. Of course I blamed the hip-hop generation for this type of disrespect. I am angry and hurt that I live in a time that glamorizes disrespectful words and phrases about black people especially black women. I will continue to fight against and will not support any venue (media or music) that disrespects the black woman and black people.

I believe that I am responsible and must educate people in the sphere of my influence that music, reality TV and hip-hop does not represent and/or define the black community or me as a black woman. I know I am responsible and must address these issues when I am given the opportunity and if I don't then the next generation will become enslaved to words and phrases that I have allowed to define Black America.