Being a fan of Asher Roth, I remember the outrage in the comment section of a site that I frequent when he first mentioned nappy headed hoes. I have seen countless interviews and have heard more music than I can remember, never sensing a smidge of racism.
His blog site is titled thedailykush.com, and he has been an open advocate of marijuana. Knowing this personal history I quickly dismissed his actions, assuming that he was probably high, and made a bad decision, as most people under the influence of any drug often do. While admitting his words not to be politically correct, and understanding wholeheartedly how it could be offensive, I accepted it as an honest mistake from a young white male, thinking he was more down with it than he really was (as one of the comments on his twitter suggested).
Perhaps I am giving you him a pass because I like his artform and I respect what he is doing overall for hip hop. Or perhaps just because I see the irony in going to Rutgers and saying nappy headed hoes, after Don Imus got blasted for it (I know how much <a href=” http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/03/50-irony/”>white people love irony</a>).
Also being a fan of illdoctrine I saw his response immediately after being posted, and I agree with his view on the situation. While I think Asher (yes we are on a first name basis) was just joking, I think the guts to make a joke on such a serious topic stemmed from a post modern approach to African American culture, and in this instance African American women. It would not be so far fetched to believe that Asher posses this post modern view, as he is a white guy sitting atop of the mountain that has previously been thought to be a blacks only mountain (speaking of hip hop here).
With all of this being said I do not believe African American women should begin to dismiss the legitimacy of Patricia Hill Collins’ notion of African American feminist thought. The racism of yesterday if no longer here, but today there is a different kind of racism taking place, and all jokes are not as politically balanced or unintentionally harmful as Roth’s was. I think for the black woman to continue to define herself she must continue supporting Collins’ urgings. Women are still sexually clad in videos and misrepresented in the country. Though women have learned to embrace their sex appeal, it should not be the only means of representation, which I think Collins was trying to prove.
I do not think people are intentionally disregarding the legitimacy of Patricia Hill Collin’s black feminist thought, not Asher Roth, or similar white men at least. As illdoctrine said, there is the belief that we are now in a post racial world. This may have one falsely believe they are in the clear to say anything they want if they truly are racist. There is the idea that in order to prove not to be a racist you have to see the world without color, meaning people are trying to get rid of black and white. Illdoctrine states, this may not be the case. We should not try to ignore race as if it doesn’t exists, pretending as if things are not that big of a deal because we are all the same on the inside, Asher’s statements have proven this to be wrong and harmful. But, instead we should acknowledge race, honor it, and simply be accepting of it.
Clearly, the thought that the doc has is not one to negate Collins’ thoughts. It would be hard for anyone who is not an African American woman to understand exactly how important it is to retain some black feminist thought. There are countless misrepresentations in the media of the black woman, that need to be fixed, and the only way to make progress is to maintain the thought.
I am sure there were some nappy headed hoes at Rutgers on the night of Asher’s performance, but to generalize so broadly was wrong and hurtful, which I am sure was not his intention. As a public figure, in the future he may have to think both harder and longer before he updates his twitter page. He is a young artists with a lot of maturing to do. With a hit single entitled, “I Love College” it is obvious that he speaks to a certain demographic. Asher’s voice would be much better utilized if he were to work instead on being antiracist by acting as if he has the pass (thereby leaving his white listeners to believe they too have the pass to whatever they want if they have black friends).
