It amazed me as so many students at the conference talked about Fat Joe's comment on women in hip-hop. It seems to me that they forgot about his most IMPORTANT comment and that is "I believe I can say the 'N' word." What the hell was that about?
Let me tell you what it was about...
Fat Joe just made a racist comment in front of "progressive" college students and NO ONE objected his comment. I DID tell Fat Joe that I did not appreciate his usage of that word; so do not tell me that I should have done something instead of complaining on some blog. It disgusted me to be in that room after he made that comment. I am very upset that all of you are more concern about what the press is saying and trying to correct that instead of actually seeing the bigger picture: someone who was invited to a progressive conference was RACIST and SEXIST. Do not get me wrong, Fat Joe did disrespect women with his comment on women in hip-hop.
BUT he also disrespected all African-Americans in that room and he did it so casually! Let me point out that all of us in that room are suppose to be liberal thinking college students who are actively changing the way our campuses operate so that it is a better place. If we are so progressive, why did we let this comment slip? It seemed like the history of the “N” word and all the pain and hatred that comes with it was completely swept away while Fat Joe made that comment. Or if it was not swept away, people were too scared to challenge some no good entertainer who thinks he can rap!
Also, we as progressive must be able to address matters of RACE. As liberal thinkers and progressive movers, we should tackle any issues that does not benefit the movement to have basic civil and human rights, such as the right to be in a society that will no longer use racist remarks under ANY circumstances. When one do not like and acknowledge another race, we call them racists. If this is true, is someone a racists too if they want to be color-blind and not acknowledge the issue of race or confront someone when they hear a racist remark?
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What Fat Joe actually said at our conference -- watch it
Julie Siegel's new piece not only exposes the misadventures of a right wing guy named Jason Mattera, it also lets you know that Mattera repeated the Washington Post's misquote of rapper Fat Joe at our July 12 Campus Progress National Student Conference. No doubt right-wingers like Mattera will want to keep on pushing out the misquote reported in the Post, so we want to get the facts on the record. Fat Joe was asked at a conference panel discussion about the representation of women in hip-hop. According to The Post, Fat Joe replied, "Y'all are going to throw me out, but I think they're bitches and hos." What Fat Joe actually said, though, was this: "I think some girls are bitches, some girls are hos. I feel like there's some intelligent women, some beautiful mothers and sisters and whatever the case may be. Just like there are some ignorant guys, and there's some great guys; there's great fathers and there's some not so great mothers…. So we talk about everything…. " You can watch the video here. (FYI, at the beginning he's talking about Oprah.)
Jason Mattera, the guy who won't let our 18-year-old college reporter Julie Siegel cover his student conference, even though we grant him and his interns access to our student conference, has decided to call Fat Joe "a wannabe thug and binge eater." The truth is (1) I watched Fat Joe calmly eat a grilled chicken salad for lunch in our speakers room, there was no binge, and it's rude to make fun of someone's weight; and (2) Fat Joe came to the conference for the same reason he has been heavily involved in voter registration work, including with our friends Voto Latino, and other activism: Because, like the 1000 students who attended our conference, he cares about the future of our country, and he wants to work for positive change.
In Fat Joe's honor, and Paul Begala's, maybe it's time for another Campus Progress misquote contest. Meanwhile, we'll keep telling the truth, we'll keep opening our events to any media, regardless of ideology, and we'll keep offering a diverse group of speakers at our events.
Please remember that Campus Progress' terms of use do not allow promoting or endorsing any particular political party or candidate for office. Posts or comments that do this will be deleted.
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Let me tell you what it was about...
Fat Joe just made a racist comment in front of "progressive" college students and NO ONE objected his comment. I DID tell Fat Joe that I did not appreciate his usage of that word; so do not tell me that I should have done something instead of complaining on some blog. It disgusted me to be in that room after he made that comment. I am very upset that all of you are more concern about what the press is saying and trying to correct that instead of actually seeing the bigger picture: someone who was invited to a progressive conference was RACIST and SEXIST. Do not get me wrong, Fat Joe did disrespect women with his comment on women in hip-hop.
BUT he also disrespected all African-Americans in that room and he did it so casually! Let me point out that all of us in that room are suppose to be liberal thinking college students who are actively changing the way our campuses operate so that it is a better place. If we are so progressive, why did we let this comment slip? It seemed like the history of the “N” word and all the pain and hatred that comes with it was completely swept away while Fat Joe made that comment. Or if it was not swept away, people were too scared to challenge some no good entertainer who thinks he can rap!
Also, we as progressive must be able to address matters of RACE. As liberal thinkers and progressive movers, we should tackle any issues that does not benefit the movement to have basic civil and human rights, such as the right to be in a society that will no longer use racist remarks under ANY circumstances. When one do not like and acknowledge another race, we call them racists. If this is true, is someone a racists too if they want to be color-blind and not acknowledge the issue of race or confront someone when they hear a racist remark?