Entries from April 2007 ↓

I am so excited. One of my blogging mentors, Evia just started a talk show and she inspired me to investigate starting my own call in show dealing with the portrayal of African American women in popular culture. The show will be broadcast Saturdays at Noon( Central Standard Time) on blogtalkradio.com. You can click on the icon to hear the last weeks dry run.

I was surfing on Afrobella and found an open letter to Hip Hop. In the comments section I found a link to a petition against degradation in hip hop. I thought I would post a portion of the petition here. Stop by and support these folks. People everywhere are outraged. We just need to be organized for change. They were up to 1256 when I signed.

To: BET, MTV, VH-1, and Mainstream Radio

As members & supporters of the Black community, we the undersigned wish to express our outrage against the numerous rap artists whose lyrics and videos degrade women, Black women in particular, as well as themselves. Their incessant use of the terms ‘nigger’, ‘bitch, and ‘ho’ degrade the Black community. We also denounce their promotion of drug dealing and the poisonous culture of violence they perpetuate.

We realize freedom of speech is a value held dearly by all in the United States of America. That same freedom of speech which allows these artists to spew their poison is the same freedom that allows us to stand up and say: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”

We do not advocate censorship. We are advocating responsibility. Know that this promotion of prison culture has affected our youth. We must put the future of the Black community first!

AS SUCH, WE WILL NO LONGER SUPPORT ARTISTS AND MEDIA OUTLETS WHO PROMOTE STEREOTYPICALLY DEMEANING IMAGES OF BLACK WOMEN !!

WE WILL NOT PURCHASE MUSIC THAT CATEGORICALLY INSULTS US!!

WE WILL BOYCOTT BET, MTV, VH-1, MAINSTREAM RADIO, AND ANY OTHER MEDIA OUTLET THAT SUPPORTS AND PROMOTES ARTISTS WHO MALIGN, DEBASE, AND OTHERWISE DISRESPECT BLACK PEOPLE!!

WE ARE SPEAKING OUT AGAINST A CULTURE THAT HAS BEEN HIJACKED AND TURNED INTO A VEHICLE OF HARM AND DEGRADATION OF AN ENTIRE PEOPLE!

In the great tradition of our ancestors who began the Birmingham bus boycott, we will not financially patronize or support any entity that discriminates against us and/or disrespects our people!!

You might want to ask WHY Verizon Wireless and American Idol have featured (A/I at least twice) a hip hop artist, AKON, who has a prolific history of misogyny and in the latest incident was captured simulating a sex act(rather violently in my opinion), on stage during a concert in Trinidad with a 14 YEAR OLD GIRL! The Video is all the rage in the Black Blogosphere, and YET again ignored by mainstream media. Listen to the crickets chirp! The seriousness of this incident is indicated by his panicked record label’s attempt to accomplish the impossible and remove the video from the internet.
Concreteloop has the latest. A really good summation is also on Pandagon and Sistah Toldjah. There is also an article in the Trinidad Express (BEWARE OF SPYWARE ON SITE THOUGH). Video is still available at o1lt.com

VERIZON wins this week’s WAGGING FINGER OF SHAME AWARD! When you pay your Verizon bill each month, you are subsidizing this behavior. STOP FUNDING THE FOOLISHNESS people!

Verizon Communications
Corporate Headquarters
140 West Street
New York, NY 10007

Telephone: 800-621-9900

You can email or mail them.

E-mail the CEO of VERIZON WIRELESS.

Trinity over at Bronze Trinity is participating in the Positive Hip Hop Free Campaign.

One idea by Chante on Concrete Loop was to have everyone promote rappers who do not have sexist language or negative messages about Black people. We have websites and blogs and so we can decide to advertise and publicize those artists who we think represent us in a positive way. I vow to do this but I need people’s help. I don’t have a list of rappers who do not degrade women but I am not sure which ones don’t use the N-word. Furthermore, I can’t possibly listen to everyone and choose. If you know of rappers who have positive lyrics, please let me know and I can get other bloggers involved in promoting them for free.

If you know about someone actively engaged in combating the the WAR ON BLACK WOMEN, let me know. We need to get organized.

Today we’re featuring another group actively engaged in combating the WAR ON BLACK WOMEN. They are called the SpiritHouse. and they have launched the Our Name is Our Own Campaign.

On the tails of the hurtful words of Don Imus, the Our Name is Our Own Campaign™ will target the systemic level of this habitual branding, and how it sabotages the work of social justice and obscures the vision for our common dreams. This grassroots campaign will be unveiled by Ruby Sales — acclaimed civil rights activist, social critic, public theologian and history maker

Drop by and read about what they are all about. If you know of another group working it out, let me know.

Evia is sponsoring a campaign to contact the Federal Communications Commission. Stop by her blog and take part in her campaign.

Sistas, please stay tuned for some FCC (Federal Communications Commission) e-mail addresses that I’ll be posting later today to which we MUST write in order for them to know how we feel about all of the SMUT talk on the air waves that denigrates, debases, degrades, and defames Black women. You’ve got to be explicit and let them know that this constant bombardment causes us PAIN. Let’s not be cute about this.
Evia

If you know of someone else who has a campaign to take ACTION right now, let me know and I will post it.

Was anyone else discouraged after Oprah’s Town Hall Meeting ?

I think there plenty of us that are equally outraged about the portrayal of African American women in popular culture . Now we need to get organized. It is time to DEFUND THE WAR ON BLACK WOMEN! Period. End of discussion. This isn’t about artistic expression. This is about capitalism. People have a right to basically say whatever they want to, but I don’t have to subsidize it in any way. Hence the term “starving artist.”

I know that there are countless groups throughout the nation that have been fighting the good fight and have gone relatively unnoticed by MSM ( mainstream media). Nor do I think we can rely on black men to lead the charge. So if you or your organization has started a local, regional, or national effort to take ACTION, let me know and I’ll post it on this blog. If you already have a distribution list to issue calls to action. Let me know, I’ll post it. I am not trying to create a new organization, just serve as a conduit to connect like- minded people together. My technical abilities are rather limited and I have the attention span of knat, but I can manage to post on a blog to get this started. We need a Moveon.org or EMILY’s List for black women.

I’m not interested in any committees, dialogues, commissions or a task force. Those are just ways to wear passionate people out. Diane Weathers said black women should take the lead in this fight. What are we going to DO now?