Hos And Bitches
HOS AND BITCHES....Now that Don Imus has been universally condemned for calling the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos," the conversation is moving on, as conversations do, to broader questions. In the LA Times today, civil rights attorney Constance Rice joins in the condemnation ("Imus' remarks were racist, offensive and, given that these athletes are not fair targets, out of bounds. There is no excuse for what he said.") but then switches gears:
Imus should only be fired when the black artists who make millions of dollars rapping about black bitches and hos lose their recording contracts. Black leaders should denounce Imus and boycott him and call for his head only after they do the same for the misogynist artists with whom they have shared stages, magazine covers and awards shows.Atrios thinks this sort of thing is a leap of logic that makes no sense. But really, it's hardly much of a leap, and it sure seems to make sense to an awful lot of people, black and white alike.The truth is, Imus' remarks mimic those of the original gurus of black female denigration: black men with no class. He is only repeating what he's heard and being honest about the way many men — of all races — judge women.
A slur aimed at specific people is obviously different than a generic slur in a rap song, but it's not that different. If one is offensive, so is the other, and it's hard to argue that the cesspool of misogyny in contemporary rap has no effect on the wider culture. It's not that this excuses what Imus did. It's just the opposite. If we're justifiably outraged by what Imus said, shouldn't we be just as outraged with anybody else who says the same thing, regardless of their skin color?
POSTSCRIPT: Yes, Constance Rice is related to Condeleezza Rice. They're second cousins. "I admire Condoleezza," she told Pasadena Weekly last year. "I just think she's hanging around the wrong crew right now."