IWF’s Michelle Bernard gets to the question that should have been more widely raised by the Imus flap: the pervasive, genuinely anti-woman vulgarity found our pop culture:



“As most of the nation was captivated by the expulsion of Don Imus from CBS and MSNBC after referring to members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed ho’s,” many Americans, myself included, were also watching TV One’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the 1977 TV adaptation of “Roots.”



“Despite the controversy over the authenticity of Alex Haley’s work and genealogy, I couldn’t help but wonder what the African slave Kunta Kinte would think of being called a “n—-h” by other African-Americans?



“What would Kizzy, the proud daughter of Kunta Kinte, think about being referred to as a “be-yotch” or a “ho” in the rap written and sung by so many black men today? In fact, what would Sally Hemings – a black slave who many believe bore as many as six of Thomas Jefferson’s children while being held as his personal chattel and concubine – have to say? What would Sojourner Truth, a former slave who went on to become a renowned anti-slavery and women’s rights activist, have to say?



“And what would Harriet Tubman, a black woman who escaped slavery and went on to help hundreds of others escape through the Underground Railroad, have to say? My guess is they’d say enough is enough.”