European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 172007 stars and stripes Page 15 opinion Imus and his ilk feed off table trash rap set by Earl Ozaki Hutchinson an u control to Hoe so asks the High priest of gang Ster rap Snoop Dogg on his cd rhythm and the masterpiece in housewife on his cd 2001 or Dre says naw Hoe is Short for Honey rapper Beanie Sigel says watch your bitches on his 2001 album the reason and 50 cent commands Bitch choose with me on his 2003 track Pimp just a Light sampling of How gangster rap pers some Black filmmakers and Comedi ans routinely reduce Young Black women to stuff bitches and hoes their con tempt reinforces the slut image of Black women and sends the message that violence mistreatment and verbal abuse of Black women Are socially acceptable despite lawsuits protests and Boycotts by women groups gangster themed films and rap music continue to soar in popularity Hollywood and music companies Rake in Small fortunes off them and so do a few rap pers now enter Shock Jock Don Imus the latest White Guy to be transformed into a racially and gender incorrect punching bag for his Michael Richards esque epithets against the Rutgers University women basketball team he of course has been verbally mugged battered abused and furloughed from his radio and to show Imus has Genus elected no Grove led to the Rev Al Sharpton civil rights leaders and the Rutgers team begging forgiveness Imus certainly de serves the kick in the shins Hes getting even he admits that he rocketed Way past the line of what even by the Raunchy and Low Road standards of Shock jockish is considered acceptable but again Imus is the softest of soft tar gets the same cant be said for the Black rap Shock jocks they made Imus possible they gave him the rappers Madhouse keep ing Seal of approval to Bash and trash Black women in Many ways their artistic Degra Dation has had even More damaging consequences for Young Black women homicide now ranks As one of the leading causes of deaths of Young Black females a Black woman is far More Likely to be raped than a White woman and slightly More Likely to be the victim of Domestic violence than a White woman who Are the assailants not White racist cops or klan Nightrider but other Black males the Media play their own roles often magnifying and sensational izing crimes by Black men against White women but ignoring or downplaying crimes against Black women the verbal demeaning of Black women has made them the scapegoats for Many of the crisis social problems in Ameri can society what s even More galling is that some Blacks cite a Litany of excuses such As poverty broken Homes and abuse to excuse the sexual abuse and violence both physical and rhetorical by top Black male artists these explanations for the misdeeds of rap pers and singers Are phony and self serving the ones who have landed hard on a court docket Are anything but hardcore dysfunctional poverty types p Diddy who predated r Kelly As the poster boy for ext Ramusi Cal malevolence is Colleg educated and hails from a Middle class Home he typifies the fraud that these artists Are upfront reghetto self made men the daunting Puzzle then remains Why so Many Blacks storm the barricades in fury against a Richards or an Imus but Are Stone silent or utter Only the feeble St of protests when Blacks Bash and trash or even worse tacitly condone their verbal abuse there Are two reasons for that r16htonbro Blacks have been the ancient target of racial stereotypes negative typecasting and mockery this has made them hypersensitive to any real or perceived racial slight from Whites that s totally understandable and civil rights leaders Are right to criticize celebrities politicians and Public figures for their racial gaffes slips or broadsides the second reason is that Blacks fear that if they publicly criticize other Blacks for their racial attitudes such disagreements will be gleefully twisted mangled and distorted into a fresh round of Blac bashing by Whites but that s a lame reason for not speaking out and loudly against Blacks who either out of ignorance or for profit or both routinely commercialize racial and gender trash talk such failure fuels the suspicion that Blacks and especially Black leaders Are More than willing to play the race card and Call White people bigots when it serves their interests but will Circle the wagons and de fend any Black who comes under fire for big Otry or anything else for that matter the same Standard of racial accountability must apply whether the racial and gender offender is an Imus or a 50 cent when it Doest that s a double Standard and that Al ways translates into hypocrisy Imus got his trash talk pass yanked now Lef s yank it from Blacks who do the same or worse Earl Tofari Hutchinson is a political analyst and author of the forthcoming the latino Challenge to Black America towards a conversation Between Africa americans and hispanics he wrote this for the Philadelphia inquirer Imus didst capture the essence of Rutgers team Chicago Tribune editorial i 1 less they have Given this name to a new Defini Tion then that is not what i am Sophomore Center Kia Vaughn said at a news conference put together to respond to Imus exploitative words so if we now know who the women of Rutgers Are not then who Are they essence Carson plays the piano Bass guitar Drums and saxophone she wears a locket bearing the birth and death dates and a photo of her inspiration a grandmother who died two years ago Myia Mccurdy is a girl scout Katie Adams was valedictorian of her High school class in Ogden Utah Brittany Ray is a basketball legacy one who honed her game by battling older brother Allan Hes a former Vitanova standout and current Boston celtic who claims Shes never made a shot against him you believe that Epiphany Prince evidently is a role Model and not just to Little girls who dream hoop dreams her life choices encouraged her Mother and her grandmother to enrol in College Gram  travel to Cleveland to watch Epiphany play in the women final four because she didst want to miss class Matee Ajavon came Back from offset son surgery in which doctors inserted a titanium Rod in her leg she scored a Tea High 20 Points in Rutgers Victory Over Trento ranked Duke now that her season is Over Shes looking at a second surgery Dee Dee Jernigan carried on despite los ing her Mother to breast cancer last year and Kia Vaughn after spending dast tuesday afternoon responding to the Imus distraction Vaughn spent the evening at a banquet at the giants stadium club in East Rutherford no she was Hon ored As the Best Wom ens College Basket Ball player in the new Yor knew Jersey metropolitan area that makes five years in a Row that a rut Gers woman has won the award who Are the women of Rutgers As a Rutgers basketball player Kia Vaughn is right she int what a radio entertainer said group they started a dispiriting and finished second in the nation losing to ten Nessee in the championship game no Prima Donnas Here the top four players each aver aged Between 12 and 128 Points a game they also can play defense ced ing a big East con Ferenc Elow 544 Points per game they boast five freshmen who were ranked the top recruiting class in the country they have no seniors to replace furthering the Hope that they just might win the National title next year they Are a team in whose Honor the Empire state building glowed this Kia Vaughn is right she int what a radio entertainer said in a woman she said last week and someones child and much More so who Are they Ever since radio Host Don Imus referred to the Rutgers University women basketball players As a group of Nappy headed hos on his show the 10 women who make up the Scarlet knights roster have been forced to define them selves by what there not prickly City by Scott Stantis