Distraction Distraction Distraction

This is the strategy that every good defense attorney uses on a jury. “Look over here, don’t look at the facts!” is the battle cry. Look away. Look away. Look away. That’s how I feel when I hear the supposed connection between Imus’s racist and sexist comments and rap music. This is the last time I will talk about this situation. But, I had to say this one last thing. First, there is no connection to rap music and the reprehensible behavior of this aging, attention wHOre—Don Imus. It is a wicked distraction. Yes, wicked and evil. How would the fact some rappers who call all women, not just Black women, bitches and hos be used as an excuse for a 60 year old man to say “nappy headed hos”? Rap cannot be blamed for this man’s statements. I want somebody to post one lyric where some rapper actually said the phrase used by Imus. The argument has been widely circulated that rappers have some how normalized the term “ho” to describe a woman, a black woman more specifically; therefore, it is rap who can be thanked that these student-athletes were called out of their names. BS is what I say. Complete bull.

The question that should be asked is: why do whites look to the worst in Black humanity as their example of what a black man or woman is??? Why is a black woman a video dancer or a welfare mother and nothing else? Why is a black man a criminal or filthy mouth rapper and nothing else? There is no way a white person can say these are the only images of Black people they are exposed to and therefore have nothing to juxtapose these negative images. Untrue. A bold face lie. A cop out. There are tons of positive images of black people on TV—men and women: Oprah, Barack Obama, Bill Cosby, Condaleeza Rice, Colin Powell to name a few. There are tons in Louisville---Chief Robert White, Attorney Olu Stevens, and Dean Blaine Hudson at U of L. There are tons of rappers that don’t call women out of there names: Common, Mos Def, Nas, and The Roots. The question becomes why whites love to highlight and focus on the worst in Black people. Black people are lawyers, doctors, policemen, teachers, etc. The sickness of this is in white people. The racism is in white people. The sexism is in men. Why judge a whole race of people on a rap music video? Does the white race judge all white people based on rock music videos like Marilyn Mason or Rob Zombie? No, whites are individuals. Blacks are a group.

Ho is an insult. Always has been, always will be. Repeating it over a million times does not change this. Anyone who says “we thought this was the ‘urban way’ to talk about women” is being intellectually dishonest. This is the number #1 problem in this society: dishonesty. On all levels. White people never want to hold the mirror up to themselves and say: we have deep-rooted prejudices and racism against black people and we need to examine it. Racism is always talked about in the abstract and not like it anyone is afflicted with it. Racism is a white problem and it effects colored folks. The prejudice in the brown people is the hate that hate produced and doesn’t affect white people in anyway.

There is no way in 2007 that a respected journalist could make this analogy: Women are promiscuous and wear slutty clothes. They are in countless porn videos. So, it is stands to reason that men think they can rape and molest them. Women have to change their behavior because porn stars have normalized promiscuous and outrageous sexual behavior. Or this analogy: Jews had all the money and power during pre-WW II Germany. With their behavior as unscrupulous businessmen they have normalized crooked business dealing. So, it stands to reason they were put in ovens. This would not be tolerated and should not be tolerated. But, black people are judged by a few rappers and told if it wasn’t for all your criminals and rappers and bad-behaving athletes, you would be treated with respect. If black people just acted right, there would be no racism. If black people were just perfect, then Imus couldn’t have said those student-athletes were nappy headed hos. It makes no sense.

This so-called rap and Imus connection was a distraction, because white people do not want to deal with their racists psyches. In fact, they are decidedly NOT going to deal with it. They have externalized it as a problem outside themselves…like they are fighting a Giant Monster roaming the US cities and countrysides. It’s outside themselves. Really and truly it is in their hearts and minds. And don’t get me wrong, this is a very, very, very complex issue, racism. Being racist doesn’t mean you hate all black people or that you go around saying nigger. It's subtle and insidious. At its very core it means you believe in white supremacy and black inferiority in all aspects of human behavior and life. Everything/one white is better than everything/one black. Think about it. It is a not accusation nor is it a insult. It is problem that needs to be addressed. Like alcoholism or any other addiction or disorder.

I’m glad Imus was fired. Extreme behavior deserves an extreme response.