Entries from June 2007 ↓

I try to avoid pictures on this site due to copyright issues, but I think this falls well within fair use since I am criticizing them for displaying their corporate logos along site a “blackface” cartoon and promoting a show called “Hot Ghetto Mess” Clearly THIS is not what they thought BET would bring to their brand. So Looks like we got. State Farm ( really disappointing), KFC, AT&T and Daimler Chrysler. Earlier I saw a Target ad. I hadn’t mastered screen captures then, but I am sure it will roll around again. I suspect that once they find out about this, they will try to erase all evidence that they actually sponsored this foolishness. I KNOW the banner ads run randomly, and these companies have no idea what BET is doing with their brands. That is my point. BET executives can’t be trusted with your brand.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Viacom Uses “Blackface” Cartoon Character to Promote New Show – - What About Our Daughters? Calls for AT&T and DaimlerChrysler to Withdraw Advertising from Viacom Network and Website.

TX –June 30, 2007– Viacom is using a “blackface” cartoon character to promote its newest show, “Hot Ghetto Mess.” The graphic for the show features a cartoon character with a black face and white lips surrounded by a red circle with a line drawn through it. The concept of the show is offensive enough, but the accompanying graphic indicates that the creators of the show believe that African Americans deemed “ghetto” are “Sambos“, “Golliwoggs” or “Picaninnies.”

DaimlerChrysler and AT&T, whose advertisements appear prominently above and beside the graphic, clearly are not aware that their ads are being featured prominently in association with a “black face” cartoon character on BET.com. The fact that BET executives believe that this graphic is the best representation of the show exhibits a level of contempt for African Americans and history that would not be tolerated at any other television network. Viacom should not be allowed to make BET a cultural “superfund” site, where the most vile and racist images of African Americans are broadcast to the world.

The blog, What About Our Daughters? calls for DaimlerChrysler and AT&T to withdraw advertising from all BET properties including all BET networks and BET.com. The executives at BET clearly cannot be trusted with the AT&T and DaimlerChrysler brands.

How much is Black America going to take from a company that is making hundreds of millions of dollars on the backs of Black viewers? How long are large corporations going to subsidize degrading images of African Americans? This is just a latest in a prolonged and consistent pattern of BET profiting off of promoting images that malign and degrade African Americans.

The graphic is located here at http://www.bet.com/BETShows/HGM_AboutTheShow.htm or at WhatAboutOurDaughters.blogspot.com. What About Our Daughters? is a blog dedicated to combating negative portrayals of African American women in popular culture.
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For information: http://whataboutourdaughters.blogspot.com
Contact: Whataboutourdaughters@gmail.com
“Combating negative portrayals of African American women in popular culture.”

They aren’t open on the weekend, but come Monday morning. AT&T and Chrysler’s phones will be ringing. This is ridiculous even for BET.

I am going to sleep now, but you can BEST BELIEVE we will be discussing this on the Black Women’s Round Table tomorrow at Noon CST. Pastor Tatum from the Ft. Worth protest will be one of our guests, the other will be a blogger from the blog ” The Last Plantation.”

Update ( Sat. Morning): It breaks my heart to report that when I returned to the BET site this morning, a Target ad was being featured prominently. As image-conscious as Target is, I am surprised they entrusted their brand to BET executives.

I was doing some research for that project I have been waiting on related to boycotting BET’s advertisers so I HAD to go to their website. While I was there I saw that they have a new show called ” Hot Ghetto Mess.” I knew it couldn’t be good, but when I clicked on the BET.com page for the show, I was shocked to see them utilizing a sambo-like character to promote the show. Above the graphic is an ad for AT&T. Beside the graphic is an ad for the Dodge Avenger.

The graphic for the show is a a cartoon in “blackface” with a circle aorund it and a line drawn through it. I guess the message is that African American who are “ghetto” are ” Golliwoggs” or “pickaninnies” ?

What will it take for African American people to realize that Viacom and its employees either HATE or are CONTEMPTUOUS of African American people? There is clearly such a culture of disrespect within the Viacom organization that NO ONE saw anything wrong with displaying an advertisement for DaimlerChrysler and AT&T along side this graphic. There is clearly no corporate conscience within that organization. This proves it folks! It is late, but I wanted to get the word out about this now.

I called the NBC news desk and of course the person who answered was not African American and didn’t quite grasp what my objection was. As usual we’ll have to do the hard work ourselves folks. Don’t count on MSM to get this one for about TWO months!

Last week we told y’all about the ” Stop Listening to Trash” campaign started by a church in Chicago. Well this week the news keeps spreading. I am telling y’all people are hungry for change. Anyway, CNN now has the story covered, and SOHH is reporting that Twista ( whoever that is) has responded. Pull out the tissue and pull out a shot glass. Let’s count how many times he blames “society” for the words that come out of HIS mouth. He is clearly a student of the Russell Simmons School of Obfuscation and Redirection.

You can be part of a similar campaign launched by the folks over at African American Opinion by chipping in. You can click on the widget in the upper righthand corner.
F.Y.I. that TMZ Roboho story I wrote about THREE DAYS AGO has finally hit the majors, Eurweb, SOHH, Bossip and YBF are covering it. But y’all saw it here first ( well technically second)

I know. I know. I promised not to mention a certain D-List comedian for at least seven days. So I shall refer to hims as “He Who Shall Not Be Named” (HWSNBN). I recently was contacted by Pastor Tatum, he organized the Ft. Worth protest and is now calling on Al Sharpton ( good luck with that one) and other leaders in NYC to protest HWSNBN when he appears at Caroline’s in a
week. The Forth Worth Weekly has some background on what has happened since the Ft. Worth protest of HWSNBN.

In an e-mail to Tatum, Rutgers University President Richard L. McCormick said he
appreciated the Hughley boycott. “Thank you for your message of support for the
Rutgers women’s basketball team,” McCormick wrote. “We are proud of the dignity
and grace with which these 10 student athletes conducted themselves throughout
the controversy … .”

I didn’t know that Eddie started to boo after HWSNBN called Hillary Clinton out of her name.

Griffin was arrested inside the hall during Hughley’s performance. He had
started booing and shouting after Hughley referred to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton
of New York as a “bitch.” “He was referring to the former first lady and one of
the leading presidential candidates in such a derogatory manner, and I spoke
up,” Griffin said. “The next thing I knew, I was being carried out.”

More after work folks!

If you need a pep up, check out Why Black Women Rock! at the Black Womanist. Take that TMZ!

For new readers, I want to remind you to take a look at some of our “Greatest Hits” posts. here are some of my personal favorites: Should Hip Hop be Eradicated?, New Loyalty Oath for the Black Blogosphere?, DL Hughley is Wrong: White Folks May Have a Point, Where in the World is Rev. Al- Sharpton Watch Day 01, Sharpton Watch is Over!, OH Snap: Video of protesters confronting Dieon Sanders and Dl Hughley in Ft. Worth. and my inaugural post: After Imus: Now What.

I am torn folks. So very. very. torn. I vowed not to mention the Black Exploitation Television awards on THIS blog, but then in my weekly Google search for blog postings about Black women, I ran across this post. By Jasmyne ( Great blog by the way!) called TMZ.com Host to Online Race War Over BET Music Awards Write Up…Beyonce Performance Labeled as “Roboho“. I too read this TMZ post called BET Fashion Fright Night about the fashion selections at the BET. I was tempted not to link to Jasmyne’s post because ( and I feel bad about it) I didn’t have any sympathy for those who chose to attend that exhibition of foolishness.

Personally, I was more disturbed by this post about Serena Williams where they imply that a Black female professional athlete is inhuman and some type of “extremely dangerous” cyborg.

Jasmyne is also disturbed by the comments on the thread about the BET fashions, but I am more concerned about the comments on the thread about Serena.

Needless to say, plenty of Black bloggers threw their own slings and arrows at the Fashion selections at the BET Awards ( YBF, Bossip, C&D, and Concrete Loop). Many of those same bloggers have their share of posts gunning for Serena as well

Y’all know I cop to my hypocrisy. Should I be AS offended that TMZ called Beyonce a “Roboho” as I am about the fact that they called Serena “extremely dangerous”. I was ticked off at the Serena Williams post, but was meh about the BET fashions post. Jasmyne had a point though. I told y’all I was conflicted. Either way, look at the captions and comments on both stories and tell me what you think. Perhaps one of you can articulate the outrage I should probably feel if I didn’t think Debra Lee and her Viacom overseers were the devil ( Just Kidding!Well, maybe not). In other words, I have to outsource my outrage over TMZ’s bashing of the African American women at the BET Awards. I just can’t muster up any legitimate outrage for some reason.

For comparison’s sake take a look at some of our “Greatest Hits” posts. here are some of my personal favorites: Should Hip Hop be Eradicated?, New Loyalty Oath for the Black Blogosphere?, DL Hughley is Wrong: White Folks May Have a Point, Where in the World is Rev. Al- Sharpton Watch Day 01, Sharpton Watch is Over!, OH Snap: Video of protesters confronting Dieon Sanders and Dl Hughley in Ft. Worth. and my inaugural post: After Imus: Now What. Normally I have no problem being indignant! HAHAHA

It is official folks. I keep telling y’all that the Hip Hop revolution is OVA. They won the revolution and now Russell Simmons and his minions are aiming for world domination. Like a virus, commercial Hip Hop has invaded and infected every crevice of American life. Music? Check. Television? Check. Fashion? Check. Politics? Check. Sports? Check. Vitamin Water? Check. Toys? Check. Now apparently they are destined to overtake the literary world. Oprah’s book club is next. Yes folks, they are expanding their book publishing. One of our favorite First Amendment Advocates, 50 Cent has expanded his G-Unit Books. Langston Hughes would be so proud.

Meta Smith, author of the blockbuster novels “The Rolexxx Club” (Warner Books, July 2006) and “Queen of Miami” (Warner Books, March 2007) is the latest
author to sign with entrepreneur, multi-platinum selling rapper, and New York
Times Bestselling author 50 Cent’s G-Unit Books.

I love this quote from the press release:
Dubbed the “Queen of Bling Fiction”, Smith was selected to write for G-Unit
for her sophisticated voice and cinematic depictions of urban life.

You can’t tell me that Hip Hop is the voice of rebellion. It is as mainstream as yellow school buses. Just you wait. 50 cent will be selling hot sauce and pre rinsed frozen collard greens next. y’all laugh.

In all seriousness, in about 10 years we are going to wake up like so many people in many parts of the world and wonder ” How the heck did we let this happen?” I could cite numerous instances where evil, totalatarian, blood-thirsty regimes take over and start to slaughter people and thrust civil society into a downward spiral. In each one of those cases, there was a point where good people could have stood up and said “No!” but didn’t. The Earth bears the mass graves to prove what happens when good people do nothing. This is not a game. This is not just about banging beats. This commercial Hip Hop culture and all that it embraces and promotes:prision culture, drug cultute, pimp culture, violence towards women, anti marriage ( which is anti woman, and having as many out of wedlock children as you can find wombs to hold is not interested in remaining within the entertainment industry, they have said and are proving daily that they want to spread their culture to ever aspect of American society.

When I named this site What About Out Daughters? I meant it! What about them? What is the world going to look like when the values of commercial Hip Hop are dominant in all aspects of American life? Do you really want the country controlled by devotees of The Russell Simmons School of Obfuscation and Redirection? Have we reached a point of no return?

Take some time to go over the African American Opinion and read what they are trying to do to spread the ” Stop Listening to Trash” billboard campaign.

Whew Folks! We finally made it to the end of our four-part series, “The First Amendment Hypocrites.” In Part One, I pointed out that the First Amendment protects us from guv’ment restriction of speech, not criticism form others. In part two, I pointed out that this blog has never advocated government restriction of speech that I find degrading to Black women. In part three, I argued that people like DL Hughley and the Dean of the Russell Simmons School of Obfuscation and Redirection who hide behind the First Amendment every time they face criticism are COWARDS!If this is your first time reading the series, you should read this post first so you will know why I am addressing D.L. Hughley . I started this series because some people “ironically” implied that the “protesters” should be quiet because of Mr. Hughley’s First Amendment right to shuck and jive on the backs of young Black women. And now, the conclusion of “ The First Amendment Hypocrites”……

Explain to me how you can defend Hughley’s right to express himself in the pursuit of financial gain, but criticize protesters for expressing their dissent. I am pretty confident that the speech the founding generation was seeking to protect was more like the speech of the protesters than that of Hughley.

If anything, the First Amendment speech of the protesters ought to be more protected than Hughley’s. Hughley’s speech was commercial. He wasn’t doing it to speak out against tyranny, oppression, guv’ment malfeasance, inequity or injustice. He was on the Tonight Show as part of his JOB. He’s getting paid to shuck and jive.

The protesters weren’t being paid to march out in the cold and rain (literally) for hours. They didn’t charge admission. They weren’t promoting a struggling TV show. In some ways the protesters were practicing free speech in its purest and most sacred form(IMHO). They were on a street corner expressing their outrage not on a cushy couch on a Hollywood soundstage.

In conclusion, to all of the well-meaning folks who feel conflicted because they don’t like what Hughley, Hip Hop, and popular culture are saying about Black women, but don’t want to criticize them for fear of violating First Amendment principles, hopefully this series clears you conscience. You are free to boycott, criticize, and protest Hughley, Hip Hop, or anybody else guilt-free. If you should feel guilty about anything, you should feel guilty for not exercising your First Amendment right to call them on their crap.

Whew I am through people. Can y’all believe I wrote all that on my lunch break. Apparently I had a lot to say. Ya think? We gon’ take a a seven day hiatus from mentioning “D.L. Hughley” for the next week. This I do VOW!

What Do You Think?
ON a lighter note, tell me what you think about this PSA for a movie called ” What Black Men Think.” I found it at a site called Black Male Appreciation. The next time you hear Russell Simmons say that prison, pimping and misogyny are a “REFLECTION” of Black society, scream “LIAR” at the TV like a banshee. ( No. really. don’t. do. that.) But seriously, there ought to be a drinking game for how many times Hip Hop apologists use the words “reflection” and “society.”

For my regular readers, y’all remember me saying that people have been complaining about the negative images in Hip Hop music for years, but no one was listening. I present to you Unplug Gangsta Rap by the Democrat and Chronicle. The Editorial Board of the paper has been running a campaign for YEARS to rescue Hip Hop from the clutches of its corporate overseers. It is called Unplug Gangsta Rap. They have an AMAZING site. My favorite is “Most Wanted” it has names pictures and descriptions of the corporate executives responsible for most of the foolishness. It also has some great articles and multimedia. Check them out. THIS is why I love this blog. Keep sending me the tips folks!