I do think it's time for another round of misquote!!

Obviously the Washington Post is more concerned with spreading a negative message than with reporting the news. However, I still think the language used by Fat Joe is worthy of criticism. Even if he also recognized that there are “some intelligent women, some beautiful mothers and sisters" and "some ignorant guys, and there’s some great guys," his choice of words for women was derogatory. His description of women was much more severe than his description of men, and the fact that those attending that breakout let the comment slide disturbs me. Language is powerful and those with the power of voice need to be considerate.

I was floored when I read the Post piece this morning. Any person who attended the session could immediately tell that the quote was an interpretation of a longer answer. The entire piece ignored the spirit of the session. It just reinforced rapper stereotypes as simple-minded misogynists
(and as if Fat Joe represented the diverse panel and all hip hop artists everywhere). Sloppy at best.

I didn't like the subtext in his response myself. After all, I may be dumb and ugly, but that makes me dumb and ugly--not a "bitch." Words are powerful, and it's up to the ladies of the hip-hop world to call these things out just as the ladies outside of the hip-hop world need to speak out against hurtful language.

Okay. So I was in the audience at the panel in question. And I couldn't believe my eyes when I came across this WaPo piece yesterday. I obviously felt like it was a gross misrepresentation of the comments he made.

Fat Joe's response to the question could certainly have been phrased more thoughtfully. But I think we all need to remember that he gained notoriety for being a rapper, not for being an articulate public speaker.

This write up in Reliable Source made him out to be a complete asshole, when, in reality I think he came across as generally sincere and earnest.

So i decided to write to the authors of the write up and here is the letters

1st letter to them

I would first like to start off this message by saying thank you for the time you spent covering the 2nd Annual Campus Progress Conference. I was reading your article on the Washingtonpost website. I frequently enjoy reading your publications. But i was troubled on your quote on fat joe. I was present in that particluar Hip hop break out session and have sence watched the footage available on the campus progress website and it seems that you misquoted fat joe. I am just wondering what caused a great publicatioon like the washington post to have misquoted the rapper.

1st response back

Hi Raymond -

Thanks for reading! I was the one who reported on the Fat Joe appearance...What particular quote did you think we misrepresented him on?

Thanks!
Korin

My reply back

Fat Joe was quoted saying 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..."

This was reported in the Post Article

"Y'all might as well throw spears at me now," he said. "Y'all are going to throw me out, but I think they're bitches and hos."

Awkward silence.

"But I also think they're intelligent, beautiful mothers," he added, noting how men can be dogs as well.

I dont personally agree with the words Fat Joe used to describe women i think they are degrading. But i honestly didnt like how the quotes used by the post didnt show more of what he was saying. Maybe its just the way im interpriting it but i think if someone just read your piece they would think that fat joe was saying that all women are bitches and hoes. Also other organizations have sence quoted your article leaving out the fact that he even said that some women are intelligent beauftiful mothers. NRO article

Link

And the way the clapping and the akward silence was described was off to.

2nd Reply from them

Raymond -

I just saw what you were referring to...It might be confusing because Joe repeated himself several times on the "bitches and hos" comments, but we did get the quotes right. If you watch the video feed, you can check it out for yourself. In fact, the blog on the Campus Progress site quotes Joe from a different moment.

Thanks for reading! Hope that clears it up!
Korin

Intersting

We're working on preparing the tape of the whole session at which Fat Joe spoke, but for now I doubt that Korin from the Post is right when she says, "It might be confusing because Joe repeated himself several times on the 'bitches and hos' comments, but we did get the quotes right. If you watch the video feed, you can check it out for yourself. In fact, the blog on the Campus Progress site quotes Joe from a different moment."

This is what the Post says:

"Y'all might as well throw spears at me now," he said. "Y'all are going to throw me out, but I think they're bitches and hos." Awkward silence.
"But I also think they're intelligent, beautiful mothers," he added, noting how men can be dogs as well.

This is what Fat Joe says in the video clip posted on our site:

"Y'all might as well just throw spears at me now. Know what I'm sayin'? There's about a million rappers on this earth; y'all want to give it me. It's alright. I feel like, you know, I mean y'all are going to throw me out of this joint, but 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." (After some more discussion, he concluded, "So we talk about everything… " and he went on to cite the diversity of messages in hip-hop, citing in particular Lauren Hill as an example of an artist with positive messages.)

So unless Joe said almost he exact same thing twice, or unless the Post rearranged his remarks out of chronology -- and we'll check the tape and have an answer for you by Monday -- then it was not a different moment.
It's not a huge deal, folks, and I agree with other commenters that it would be better not to refer to women as "bitches and hos," but we want to strive for fairness and accuracy here -- and especially to be fair to our speaker, who gave his time to come talk with us.

I think it was kind of intersting that we had the conference at the Marriott. Sence the hotel chain is owned by one of the biggest mormons of all time and lots of the profits go striaght to the LDS church. But i think it goes more to show that lots of conservatives are more intersted in making money than principles. A the fact that the rooms have porn even thou thats something that the lds church is strictly against, and drinks in the mini fridges and B the fact that they had a progressive student conference at there hotel.

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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