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From D.L. Hughley to BET’s Blasphemous “Read a Book” Campaign: What
Hath Imus Wrought?
Book Review by Kam Williams
"Read a book! Read a book! Read a muh'f*ckin book!
Read a book! Read a book! Read a muh'f*ckin book!
Not a sports page (what) not a magazine (who)
But a book nigga, a f*ckin book nigga (YEAHHH~!)"
-- Lyrics from “Read a Book” an animated music video by D’Mite
It’s been over five months since Don Imus’ uttered the “nappy-headed
hos” comments which cost him his once enviable broadcasting career. On
his way out the door, the disgraced shock jock tried to defend himself
by suggesting that he had merely been mimicking a vile vernacular very
popular with Black entertainers.
In the wake of his ouster, there was a call made by responsible
members of the African-American community for Black performers to clean
up their acts by eliminating any self-hating slurs from their lexicon.
Regrettably, however, the trend has been the opposite, starting with
D.L. Hughley. One of the celebrated Kings of Comedy, he went out of
his way on The Tonight Show to embrace Imus by affirming, “There were
some nappy-headed women on that team. Shut up, I'm gonna say it. I don't
give a damn if you all like it or not. You know it's true. They were
some of the ugliest women I've seen in my whole life."
When there was no call for D.L.‘s head after his shocking remarks,
other Blacks only seem to be following his lead. For example, here’s how
another King of Comedy, Bernie Mac’s character addressed his
mother in a line likely ad-libbed for the summer blockbuster,
Transformers: “If I had a rock, I’d bust your head, bitch.” Yikes.
Equally misogynistic was a straight-to-DVD disaster entitled
Confessions of a Call Girl, a practically porno flick which was
really little more than a transparent excuse to get Tamala Jones
nearly naked in a series of compromising positions. But my problem with
picture had less to do with all the gratuitous nudity than with the fact
that the film’s dialogue is laced with the n-word and the f-word, and
that sisters are routinely referred to as “bitches” and “hos.” And in
the film’s pivotal scene, a character portrayed by Clifton Powell
boasts euphorically “I’m a mother-f*cking man!” as he is being fellated
by a treacherous Black woman he has no clue is about to stab him in the
chest as she satisfies him.
Then, there was the relentlessly-crass Who's Your Caddy, a
degrading minstrel coon show trumpeted as the debut release of the very
first Black-owned, movie studio, Our Stories Films, a company
created by former Black Entertainment Television (BET) Chairman Bob
Johnson. In this demeaning bottom-feeder, an African-American female
defiantly refers to herself as a “queen beatch,” while the picture’s
protagonist, played by gangsta rapper Big Boi, states that he’d
prefer dating a stripper to a classy Black lawyer he meets.
Speaking of BET, the Network recently debuted a deplorable animated
music video called “Read a Book.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN2VqFPNS8w)
Besides incessant profanity and ethnic slurs, the cartoon most
prominently features a sister sporting skintight pink pants emblazoned
with the word “BOOK” on her protuberant butt shaking her oversized booty
right in your face.
Though purportedly a parody, there’s nothing remotely redeeming about
the video or likely to inspire the impressionable young Black boys
tuning in to turn off the TV and aspire to anything higher than seeing
African-American women as wanton, waiting and willing objects of their
injection.
What hath Imus wrought? Judging from what we’ve witnessed since his
dismissal, it sure looks like a lot of Black entertainers have decided
to declare war on the dignity of the Black female.
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