Some things only a father can say.
What follows is an attempt by one father to say it.
This past week, a conservative commentator called out Cardi B, one of the world’s most popular female rap artists, over her “Twerk” video.
“In the Era of #MeToo how exactly does this empower women?” Stephanie Hamill tweeted.
“If I twerk and be half naked does that mean I deserve to get raped and molested,” Cardi B responded.
Obviously, anyone who is watching a twerk video featuring nearly nude young women won’t give a darn what a conservative commentator has to say, not any more than they would care what a senior citizen has to say.
And “don’t like it, don’t watch it” has been the mantra of rap fans when it comes to this sort of thing.
But in the era of the #MeToo Movement, that notion is being challenged.
I heard from a reader who describes himself as the African-American father of a 5-year-old girl. He was particularly disturbed that white males were at the head of music companies distributing this video.
“That bothers me to know that they allow this content to continue to penetrate our culture in such denigrating manners,” the father wrote.
He asked that I not use his name. That’s understandable since there’s nothing worse than being dragged in the mud on Twitter for your opinions.
But the father’s concerns are worth sharing because he’s touched on a troubling dilemma for black people.
We love our celebrities and much of what they embrace shapes popular culture. But why is it OK for them to continue objectify black women as over-sexed butt-shakers?
This father said he sent a letter to the heads of Warner Music Group, Atlantic Records and Cardi B after watching the “Twerk” video
Here are excerpts from what he wrote:
“As I watched, all I kept thinking, I hope that [my daughter] doesn’t see this at her age or quite frankly at all…And if she does come across it, how will she process this video in her young still developing brain?
“My 5-year-old daughter understands even at this stage of her young life just how easy it is to discover everything that she wants to know about her reality with a stroke of a few characters and the ‘enter’ key. I and my wife had talks [with] her about what she can and cannot access, but that will only be applicable for so long…Unfortunately, there are millions of young girls (and boys) out there who, because they go without proper parenting or support systems or role models, will give in to their curiosities and peer pressure.”
He pleaded with the music moguls to stop distributing videos that denigrate black women.
“I know that as artists, producers and CEOs of labels, [you] have a responsibility to your share/stock holders and to see to it that everyone…makes money…However, I also must then argue…that you, too, also have a social responsibility to ensure that the messages …being expressed by both sight and sound are not contributing to the already mentally disturbed, the confused, the underdeveloped and overly sexually stimulated public. My chief concerns particularly are really about our babies, both young girls and boys.”
In his email to me, the reader — who signed off that he is “Still a Fan” of Cardi B. — wrote:
“You make hope feel real, especially to those who feel like there is none. That being said, and knowing that you too are now a mother of a child, is it wrong of me to say to you that the video takes not only black women back, but our very own culture back?
“Our culture seems to be the only culture out there in this world that exposes our women in very disheartening and disrespectful manners.
“I beg the producers of not just your label but all other labels and I beg of you Cardi B, City Girls and all other artists, both male and female alike, do the right thing and reform yourselves to better versions of who you are. I ask you to do these things for your children and your children’s children… Please for the love of all things Holy, take down this video.”
This is a heartfelt plea, one that others have made, too.
But it will take many more of us not being fans of this kind of entertainment to have any chance of keeping another generation of thong-clad black girls from showing off their twerking skills.
