I'm not really even sure how or where to begin, so I'm just going to write and let my thoughts guide me.
Yesterday I had the great misfortune of watching one of the most offensive videos I have ever seen in my entire life. The video, presented as a comedy, was of Harriet Tubman using a "sex tape" of her and her master to frame him into helping her with the Underground Railroad. I am dead serious. Now the very CONCEPT of such a skit is enough to make me ill so you can imagine how I felt watching it. Such disrespect, racism, and mockery is easily enough to have people marching in the street, screaming in outrage. But that is not happening. Instead, people are largely silent aside from many strong black women and women of color. The worst part, the publisher and producer of the video is a black man. Not just any black man either. A black man who has spoken out against racial injustice and prejudice. A black man who has spoken out about discrimination. One of the last Black Men you might expect to cosign this racist, misogynistic piece of trash. That man is Russell Simmons.
Russell Simmons debuted this offensive tripe on his new Youtube network All Def Digital. It was presented as an original comedy starring DeStorm Power, Shanna Malcolm and Jason Horton. It depicts Harriet Tubman seducing her master while another slave films the acts in a closet. It is trash. It is garbarge. It is offensive. It is grotesquely misogynistic. It makes a mockery of one of the most beloved and respected Black Icons in history. I literally gaped in awe of how anyone thought such an abhorrent video was such a good idea. At that moment, the sad reality hit me like a runaway freight train. A horrible truth in the black community that none of us want to accept struck me. After all these years, we as black men still have not learned how to love, how to respect, and how to honor the black woman. Even so called conscious brothers will find humor in the disrespect, degradation, and humiliation of the black woman. As a proud black man with a loving wife and two daughters, I find such disrespect, degradation, and humiliation intolerable.
Yesterday a lot of brothers got bent out shape about the hashtag #Blackpowerisforblackmen that was trending on Twitter. Some of the rebukes were a bit scathing and some of it was tough to read. That said, a wise man knows when it's time to listen. So I did just that. I read and I listened. I thought about how the comments made me feel. I thought about what inspired the sisters to speak out as they did. I stilled my mind and my feelings and I listened. Now, as I think about this outrageous video, the message is crystal clear. Brothers this is exactly what my Sisters are talking about. If you think sisters were exaggerating, you need to watch that video again. If you think this was just a bad attempt at comedy, you are part of the problem. If you found it funny, please do the world a favor and find a really high bridge and leap for all you are worth.
"But...but Doc! He didn't mean anything by it. He even apologized and took it down"
Oh really? Think about this. A few weeks ago Russell was going all in on Don Lemon for his mischaracterization of black men. I submit that as angry as I was at Lemon, I am furious at Simmons. Russell manage to touch every base here. Misogyny? Check. Disrespect of the black woman? Check. Making a mockery of slavery? Check. Degrading a true black heroine and an icon of our people? Check. As ignorant as Lemon's comments were they are nothing compared to this outrageous video. But Simmons isn't garnering anywhere near the type of heat that Lemon did. Why? Because the disrespect was aimed at black women. Because we still have it in our collective minds that it is OK to shame, degrade, and disrespect the black woman, even if that black woman is one of the greatest Black Icons in our people's history. Even a so called conscious brother like Simmons, who took issue with Lemon's comment about sagging pants, thinks jokes about rape, slavery, and the degradation of the black female are funny. Brothers we should be absolutely ashamed right now.
Even in his apology Simmons hints at his true feelings. "I thought it was politically correct. Silly me." he says. Let's just pretend he means it and he is not being slightly sarcastic. What is correct about a "Harriet Tubman Sex Tape" in your mind Rush? What's funny about that? What's funny about the thousands of black women who were forcibly raped during slavery? What's correct about your depiction of your own people in that video? What in your mind told you this was OK?
This is just another reminder my brothers. This is why our sisters are frustrated. This is why our sisters feel unloved. This is why they feel disrespected. We are failing the hell out of them. It's almost a given that they are going to be persecuted by racists and ignorant brothers. But when it comes from the so called best, brightest, most conscious and most successful among us, who can our sisters turn to? I submit that right now no black woman is safe. Even our greatest black women can be instantly devalued. Again, this is utterly shameful.
To my brother Russell Simmons: I have always had a great respect for your accomplishments. But you are so far out of line it is fucking ridiculous. Your weak, milksop apology doesn't even begin to fix the damage you've done here. You've got a lot of work to do to repair what you've wrought. Get at it. Because every time you speak about racism, inequality, or injustice I'm going to think about this video.
To my black women: We as brothers are fucking up left and right. Without question. But some of us are trying to get it right. Keep speaking out. One love.
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Thank you for this.
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