After Imus

Okay, so now that the racist, sexist remarks of the above media man have been soundly condemned, it's time to move on to larger implications within the Black community.

Though the use of the N word and of sexist comments in hip hop certainly fail to justify Imus' statements, they do point to a broader issue that plagues our community. A friend sent me a YouTube video that I cannot even post a link to, which was filled with some of the worst caricatures of Black women and men that I have seen in some time. The video was made by a young southern African-American rapper who is extremely popular today. What is disturbing is that this 'artist' is not alone -- similar lyrics are pumped over the airwaves almost 24-7 (through radio and TV/videos), and their demand is so strong that they have made millionaires of many young Black rappers.

I'm a child of the Black ghetto, not at all shocked by some of the harsh realities that hip hop lyricists rap about. So I am saddened to see how hip hop has transformed from party music and protest music to music that glorifies the materialism and sexism of this age. Its vast popularity speaks to the fact that we have a problem as a community (and a nation), because we have no problem objectifying women on the regular (both in words and images) and we have no problem perpetuating stereotypes of our own people.

Though we didn't create Imus, we have certainly given him ammunition. It is wrong and hypocritical of us to castigate Imus and not take to task at all our own people whose words are also damaging and problematic. Do I equate Imus' statements with those of rap artists? Do I think the latters' words excuse the former's? Nope. But I do think we cannot ignore what is thrust into our face everyday: words and pictures of our women that reduce us to sex objects, and words and pictures of our men that reduce them to caricatures (pimps, criminals, etc.).

Though I was deeply hurt by Imus's remarks, I am grateful for this one thing: the incident helped shine light on a larger problem that needs to be addressed.