The Objectification and Humiliation of the Black Woman

The Huffington Post reports that:

The online magazine Buro 247 has published a story about Dasha Zhukova, the Russian editor-in-chief of Garage magazine, which shows the editrix perched atop a chair designed to look like a half-naked black woman. Ugh.

Note: the image has since been cropped on the website to only show Zhukova and not the chair. We have reached out to Miroslava Duma the editor of Buro 247 for comment.

Claire Sulmers, the editor of FashionBombDaily.com, alerted us to the unfortunate feature and calls the image an example of "white dominance and superiority, articulated in a seemingly serene yet overtly degrading way."

We couldn't agree more. Although the chair also comes in "white woman," we can't help but be filled with anger and frustration over the onslaught of negative imagery, constant disregard and unabashed bigotry that continues to plague the fashion industry. From Bethann Hardison's crusade to end racism on the runway to our attempt to educate society over and over and over again about the nonsense that is Blackface -- the stories of racially insensitive absurdity are never ending.

In response to the backlash, Ms. Zhukova issued the following apology:

The chair pictured in the Buro 24/7 website interview is an artwork created by Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard, one of a series that reinterprets art historical works from artist Allen Jones as a commentary on gender and racial politics. Its use in this photo shoot is regrettable as it took the artwork totally out of its intended context, particularly given that Buro 24/7′s release of the article coincided with the important celebration of the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I regret allowing an artwork with such charged meaning to be used in this context. I utterly abhor racism and would like to apologize to those offended by my participation in this shoot.

Garage Magazine has a strong track record of promoting diversity and racial and gender equality in the worlds of art and fashion, and will continue in our mission to stir positive debate on these and other issues.  Read more here.

Clearly, that photo is blatantly racist and sexist. Illustrating her racial superiority and domination, Dasha Zhukova is literally sitting on top of a partially nude black woman who is sexually positioned in the shape of a chair. The black woman has been reduced to an object, a chair. This is even worst than a modern day field jockey statue. At least, the field jockey is standing upright.  That photo is reminiscent of slavery times when our half-naked ancestors were placed on auction blocks and examined like cattle. It is absolutely impossible for me to understand how anyone in their right mind would actually believe that such a photo would be acceptable under any circumstances.

Every single time one of these incidents occurs,  the racists always pretend to be completely unaware that their actions are offensive. Apparently, many white people have been thoroughly brainwashed to be unconsciously racist.

Unfortunately, this story is not the first time that I read about Europeans objectifying black women. In 2012, as reported in The World Post, Sweden's minister of culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth was photographed cutting a cake designed to look like an African woman.  As if that was not bad enough, in recent times, some white women further humiliate black women by parading around in black face.  Clearly, some white women do not see black women as their true sisters in the struggle for women's liberation and feminism. In fact, many of them help their white husbands, brothers and sons oppress and humiliate black women and black men.

 

 

We must stand up speak out against the objectification and humiliation of black women. We must speak out against racist white people who degrade our women.

Equally as important, we must speak out against sexist, misogynistic black men who degrade our women. Sadly, it is not white woman who is usually sitting in that chair of domination and oppression. It is a black man, a rapper or a YouTube minstrel. It is a black man calling our sisters "bitches, hoes, chicken heads, etc."  Influenced by white owned media corporations, a few misguided black men depict our women as prostitutes and strippers. Unfortunately, there are too many sisters who are willing to play the role of the modern day Sarah Baartman. For a few dollars, they volunteer to be proverbial black woman chair.

We must fight to maintain and defend our dignity and self respect as a people. We must defend and protect the black women from the enemy within and the enemy without.

Does Hip Hop Degrade or Enhance Society?

About one week ago, prominent hip hop artists, activists and scholars such as Michael Eric Dyson, Jesse Jackson, KRS ONE and others gathered in London to debate about hip hop. One of the questions raised was whether hip hop degrades or enhances society. Although I love hip hop, I have to admit that it degrades society.

Originally, hip hop was the genuine voice of the African American community.  Back in the day, hip hop was multi-dimensional. All of its different voices shared equal space on radio stations and music video shows. It was profound and profane at the same time. One song told the world that You Must Learn, and another song told voluptuous, scantily clad women to Move Something. It exposed the world to the harsh realities of drugs and inner violence. However, it was also politically conscious. It taught us about Malcolm X, the real Black Panthers, the Five Percenters, Islam and the motherland. I remember when the African medallions replaced the gold chains. In addition to be being dead serious, hip hop was also about dancing and partying.

Today, with the commercialization of hip hop, negative rap music has been catapulted to the forefront and positive, inspiring hip hop has been pushed into fringes. Finding positive rap on the radio is like sifting through a mountain of garbage looking for a diamond. Artists such as Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots and Common are rarely played on the radio.

Nowadays, radio stations play the same 20 songs by Lil Wayne, Drake, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, 2 Chains, Waka, Nicki Minaj, 50 Cent and a other few others.

For the most part, mainstream rap does degrade African American society in several ways. It celebrates violence and criminality. The gun is a phallic symbol in mainstream rap. Many rap artists brag about having guns. For example, in one popular rap song, Rick Ross boasts about having "a chopper in the car". Many rap artists brag about shooting and killing their own black brothers. Instead of celebrating real achievements, mainstream rap celebrates getting shot and "catching cases".  Those disasters are badges of honor in the warped world of hip hop.

In addition to promoting violence, mainstream rap glorifies crack dealing and materialism. Rappers brag about buying Maybachs, Bentleys and expensive jewelry with dope money. Essentially, in order to be respected in the rap game, you must have street cred. You have to be a former drug dealer or have a criminal record. By flaunting their wealth and bragging about their criminal past, many rappers are basically encouraging the gullible youth to sell drugs. Although mass incarceration and inner city violence are not caused by rap, popular rap encourages and perpetuates those problems.

Moreover, you can't listen to a rap song without hearing artists using the word "nigga" to describe themselves and their own people. For example, one of the most popular rap songs out is titled Niggas In Paris. The "n" word is probably the most derogatory racial slur in the English. That word is rooted in slavery and Jim Crow. It is outrageous that we continue to use the oppressor's slur against ourselves. Usage of that word is a modern day example of what Naim Akbar called "the chains of psychological slavery."

Instead of honoring our sisters, mothers, wives and girlfriends, hip hop has reduced our women to bitches, hos and other derogatory terms. Dr. Dre's Bitches Ain't S*** summarizes mainstream hip hop's attitude toward women. Here are a few misogynistic lyrics from some very popular rap songs. On Steady Mobbing, Lil Wayne raps "F*** these bitches! I swear I care about everything but these bitches." On another song, Drake says, "I don't trust these hos at all."

Hip hop does not present women as intelligent and capable equals.  It presents them as rump shaking, half-naked prostitutes and strippers. One of the most popular songs tells women to "shake that ass." Another popular song brags about "beating the p**** up."

In sum, hip hop degrades society, but we have the power to make hip hop enhance our society. We must empower and promote positive and conscious rap by buying it and by encouraging radio stations to play it. At the same time, we must challenge and oppose the self-destructive and degrading messages in popular rap music, not through censorship, but through our purchasing power. This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.

We Must Use Hip Hop as a Means of Liberation, Not Degradation!

“If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one.” Carter G. Woodson

As reported in the Grio, rapper Too Short created a storm of controversy when he offered the following advice to boys:

"When you get to late middle school, early high school and you start feeling a certain way about the girls... I'm gonna tell you a couple tricks," Too Short said in the video. "A lot of the boys are going to be running around trying to get kisses from the girls... We're going way past that. I'm taking you to the hole."

Then, the 45-year-old rapper, whose real name is Todd Anthony Shaw, asks women off camera to "cover their ears" to avoid being offended. Short then describes a scenario in graphic detail. "You push her up against the wall," he continued. "You take your finger and put a little spit on it and you stick your finger in her underwear and you rub it on there and watch what happens."

In response to the controversy, XXL and Too Short issued some lame apologies. Unfortunately, apologies are not good enough. 

This situation is emblematic of a larger problem. During Too Short's hay day, his brand of hip hop was at the fringes of the culture. It was one of many voices in the hip hop community. Around that time there were plenty of positive alternative mainstream artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Public Enemy, Brand Nubian, etc.

Today, that is not true. Now, Too Short's brand of rap music is more acceptable.  Misogyny, crack dealing and murder are constantly glamorized in today's so-called hip hop.  The art can be summed up in four words: money, drugs, sex and violence.  Mainstream popular hip hop degrades and objectifies black women. Instead of respecting women as equals, women are reduced to scantily stage props to be used and abused. Instead being respected black women as sisters, mothers and wives, many black male rap artists routinely call them bitches, hoes, chicken heads, etc. Common hip hop expressions and slogans include misogynistic phrases such as "Gs up hoes down, bros before hoes, we don't love them hoes, money over bitches and treat her like a dog." By disrespecting our women, we are disrespecting ourselves and destroying our family structure. The destruction of the family structure perpetuates the destruction of the black community.

Although we do not control the corporations that project these negative images, no one is forcing these black male artists to degrade black women.  No one is forcing us to buy this crap.  In the words of Carter G. Woodson, the oppressor no longer has to be concerned about our behavior because our thinking has been controlled. Many of us have internalized and accepted an inferior status. Today, the white man is not disrespecting our women. We gladly do that ourselves. The white man is not the one calling us niggers. We gladly call ourselves that. We are the only group of people who proudly use our enemy's racial slur to describe ourselves. In the words of MF Doom, "what type of chitlins is that?"

Mr. Woodson is right. By purchasing and supporting such misogynistic and self destructive music and magazines, we are creating that proverbial back door for ourselves. At some point, we must take responsibility for the images that we allow to be projected. Just as we protest against bigots like Don Imus and Pat Buchanan, we should organize sustained protests against corporations and artists who humiliate our community.

I commend the efforts of ColorofChange. People who degrade black women should be fired. However, I don't believe that firing people is the solution to the problem. We need a social revolution, a revolution in values. The music industry, like most businesses, is driven by greed and money. As long as we demand and accept garbage, they will keep feeding it to us. If we stopped buying negative music and started supporting more positive artists like Mos Def, Common, The Roots and Talib Kweli, radio stations would be compelled by market forces to play such artists on the radio. Record labels would be compelled to sign and promote more positive artists.

Ultimately, we must own and control our music and our culture. We must use hip hop as a means of liberation. We must stop allowing corporations and their negro overseers to use our culture to destroy us.

This article is cross-posted on Jack and Jill Politics.

Open Letter to Rapper Lil Wayne

Today, I stumbled upon an inspiring story on the Grio about two courageous little girls from Baltimore. Baltimore stand up! It is great to read about some young people speaking out against misogyny and violence in hip hop. Here are a few excerpts from Dr. Boyce Watkins' article:

"A handful of little girls calling themselves Watoto from the Nile did something that almost no grown man could ever do: They walked up to Lil Wayne and punched him right in the face; well, musically that is. By releasing their song, "Letter to Lil Wayne," the girls sparked a riot of conscientiousness that promises to be the start of something big. Within just one week, the song received nearly one million views on YouTube, and the girls have become an instant Internet sensation. Lil Wayne, one of hip-hop's most magnificent lyrical geniuses of our time, is also one of the most disturbing artists on the music scene. He is a tragic E! True Hollywood Story special waiting to happen, as his misguided life mixes the very worst that rock n' roll and hip-hop have to offer.

"As I listened to the girl's brilliant song about the misogyny and negative messages in hip-hop, I wondered why the adults around them have not been more vocal about stopping the onslaught of destructive imagery in music."



These young girls had the heart to condemn this nonsense. When will the young men in the community stand up and demand more from the artists, the radio stations and the record industry!?!?