I found this post by Eddie Griffin a very thought-provoking take on the Erykah Badu nude music video controversy.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BROTHERS IN DALLAS
She left nothing to the imagination, but much to be desired. She is neither cute, nor as fine as she thinks herself to be. Ms. Erykah Badu is vain in her imagination, if she thinks her physique looks better than a degusting 46-year old Wanda Sykes. They are both undesirable, except to the basest of men.
To bear it all before the eyes of children is to destroy their innocence. The secret parts of the body are not secret any more. The unknown becomes an ugly hairy looking thing. Uch!
Damn me once, damn me, twice, the idiot Wanda Sykes follows suit, only to get as far as pulling off her pants, and exposing her panties. Mama, why don’t boys wear panties?
It was the second act, Wanda Sykes stripping on the streets, that made me realize: If Erykah Badu can do it and Wanda Sykes can do it, then any woman in America can strip down to their birthday suit. Then if women are so “free” spirited, then why not men, stripping down to their ding thing in front of your 5-year old daughter?
What difference is there between Chester the Molester and Erykah Badu?
The author of this communiqué is the same Eddie Griffin who heckled and booed D.L. Hughley performance at Fort Worth Bass Hall in 2007. The fight against this black comedian was over the issue of MISOGYNY, calling black women “bitches” and “whores”.
Now we got one, acting just like one. This is not art. This is pornography in the flesh… as pornographic as filming a gang rape, set to music, and calling it Art.
With the conspiracy to distribute this live pornography, across internet line, we have a federal offense, punishable by some years in prison. This is how you cut off evil in the land, by exercising the law to protect the innocent, especially the innocence of our children.
The most disturbing thing I saw as a child, was a man who had been stabbed rather than having had accidentally seen my father nude.
With this logic some of our ancestors would never been able to love, make love, have families or decent societies when their only attire was pretty close to a G string.
Thought provoking, yes! But I must disagree with brother Griffin’s point, Asa.
Is nudity pornography?
Is the naked form some kind of evil?
Or has the Western culture that we live in brainwashed us into believing that the body is ugly, evil, in need of being hidden?
We live in a repressive, brain dead society; Badu, to my mind, is reacting against this deadness, this repression.
It is no accident that her “performance” took place at the very spot where America truly lost its mind. The murder of JFK by elements in the FBI/CIA White House, etc. We don’t seem to know any of this history, thus the need to “strip” down to the fundamental truth of our existence – literally and figuratively.
Badu is saying that we are bound – mentally, psychically, emotionally – and the only antidote is to get butt nekkid honest. Sometimes that requires a literal stripping to the barest essentials in order to shock the mummies aka average American citiziens.
Of course and as Badu well knew, she would be assassinated for attempting to wake a bunch of sleepwalkers. They say that it is extremely dangerous to wake sleepwalkers because they may react violently. Well….
Interesting take Lubangakene… thought-provoking as well!
I have Badu’s new albumn and listened to the song “Window Seat” more than a few times, even before I saw the video or took notice of it’s controversy. I didn’t get any of what you surmise from her song or the video when I finally saw it. I didn’t intellectualize it that much and I certainly don’t take the view that it corrupts minors either! I take the video for what it is… a publicity stunt to sell cds. First rule of marketing: Sex Sells!
So the real qestion isn’t: “Is nudity pornography?” or “Is the naked form some kind of evil?” The real question is: “would we even be talking about Badu (and by extension her new cd) without the controversy over the video!?”
No I do not agree with Ms. Badu’s stripping on a city street however to put things in context I work in a museum where almost every painting and sculpture depicts nudity. Parents bring their children to my museum every day. Of course the children ask questions. With that said, yes public nudity by humans is unacceptable however having seen the video all the parents had to do with move the kids away or have them turn their heads. Just ignore it. The police will handle the situation. I survived seeing naked people at Woodstock, streakers during the 1970s and the nudity in the Blaxploitation movies of the 70s. Also when I got a little older my father took me to see African dancers who were partially nude. I think nudity does have its place but unless it is forced down our throats let’s not make such a big deal out of it. Afterall for these 21st Century children they see all kinds of nudity and sex on TV and in the movies anyway. All one needs to do is make Ms. Badu’s video a discussion point with your children, especially your female children explaining to them why modesty is preferrable and desirable in our sexist society.
Just my two cents.
It is obvious Mr. Griffin is against the video because as he says Ms. Badu “is neither cute, nor as fine as she thinks herself to be”.
It appears that if he had found her appealing, he would have liked it.
His criticism of the video is nonsensical and illogical. One either criticizes it because one believes it is wrong to do a video in nude or is totally against nudity as art.
I imagine thare is at least one person who found her video appealing to offset Mr. Griffin’s statement that her video is simply offensive because “she is not appealing”.
Then he goes on and says “to bear it all before the eyes of children is to destroy their innocense”.Here he is trying to say, he is against, maybe because of little children watching it.
I hope parents are monitoring what their little children see. But I don’t believe little children who are growing up in a loving and protective environment would lose their innocense even if they see this video.
After Janet Jackson’s fiasco with Justin Timberlake,I would think that black artists would have more sense and not show their private areas to America. The United States of America cannot handle seeing black people in the nude.
I have not seeing this video but I do not believe this is pornography but misdirected art or maybe even bad art for those who disagree. We do not always have to like everything we see.
I remember when Celia Cruz sang” La Negra Tiene Tumbao”. The model that was used in the video was a black woman from Guatemala and there was nude scene that she skipped and another model was inserted to pose in the nude for the main protagonist.
I was a bit shocked that CeliaCruz’s(Celia Cruz was very refined and cultured) song appeared with such risqué scene. In the overall end,it did appear very tasteful and the tune became a hit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX1oHxC7i7w
Saludos,
Ana
@DeBorah: your “two cents” is always welcome here! Thanks for sharing your perspective!
@Ana: “The United States of America cannot handle seeing black people in the nude.”
Very true!
@Hathor: “With this logic some of our ancestors would never been able to love, make love, have families or decent societies when their only attire was pretty close to a G string.”
This would be true if you believe that Africans ran around half-naked in the jungle as depicted in Tarzan films.
Eddie Griffin’s post may be thought provoking, but only in that it is completely appalling. His critique of both Badu and Wanda Sykes is based entirely on their physical attraction, and to the extent that he finds them too old, too “hairy,” or too “ugly,” they are worthless to him. To paraphrase Mr. Griffin, his opinion is neither as cute nor as fine as he thinks it is. He bares his soul in this post, and in its spite for women, it is truly an ugly and hairy thing.
Asabanga,
“This would be true if you believe that Africans ran around half-naked in the jungle as depicted in Tarzan films.”
This is not what I said or implied. But other pictures don’t lie and since we do not know exactly who all of our ancestors were we cannot say that all were fully clothed. This is before you were born, but National Geographic, Geography texts and documentaries showed how some cultures lived. I can’t believed that the visual was contrived.
Let me remind you Africa is a continent not a nation.
There are still some places where the older women do not cover their breast. Sense of modesty and propriety is not defined by clothes, it comes from the values of society.
In South America until very recently the Amazon Natives that lived deep in the rain forest wore almost no clothing at all.
It seems sometime that to legitimize our Blackness we have to be something were are not.
Most of us have sex. Or will (do so on a regular basis) at some point in out lives. Having sex is not illegal. And in many cultures it is considered an expression of love. And besides its procreation. Right? However, if you went out and bought your child a toy replica of a sexual organ, you’d be put in jail. Take a picture of a child holding such item and you won’t get very far in life. On the other hand, most of us will likely not ever commit murder. Murder is illegal. However, you can walk into any toy Toys-R-Us with your child and buy him/her a toy replica of a killing machine. Gun, knife, tank, apache helicopter, you name it, they got it. Children are allowed to simulate killing and we provide the tools for that. You can dress them up as soldiers with toy gun and take a picture and put in on yr facebook page and its patriotic. I always heard the analogy that if a woman in is stabbed and killed a movie, the movie gets a PG or PG-13, but if that woman exposes her breasts its rated R and if her breast are kissed, the movie becomes NC-17. Most of us would agree, children can be lead to some confusion (or emotional dissonance) by looking at or simulating sexual acts. But why do we think that they are immune to looking at and simulating violence? To the point where we have an industry the feeds our children violence (be it PowerRangers, Xbox, or water guns). The only thing I can think of is that the establishment wants to (1) control our sexuality and (2) make sure we are all ready to fight their wars.
I’m late to this thread but will comment anyway. It’s a harsh assessment of two black women who are bold enough to go against the grain of American “sensibilities”.
I think Eryka is beyond beautiful! I only think this is so when I turn off my double consciousness and look at her only with my reengineered black consciousness. When I look at her for what she did, I say, thank you for being bold enough to do something that shocks, that upsets, that brings discussion.
When I look at her for her beauty, it’s not through the eyes of the dominant culture. So Im not comparing her in any way to that standard, which most white women cant uphold either! I see her beautiful brown skin, her curvacious, yet not overweight body, that any man in his right mind would love to touch. I see her petite upper body in contrast to her more curvy lower body, which many black women have this “pear” body shape. I see her slender legs which is another black woman trait. I see her, then I think of what my husband says to me, how he loves MY SHAPE! He’s not comparing me to another standard, he’s appreciating me as I am. What I have as a black woman is what he appreciates as a black man. That works quite nicely, doesn’t it?
Yet, When I turn back on my double consciousness, I see Erykah as a black nasty slut, sashaying her big ass around in public, scaring white men, shaming black men and confusing all other men! Her body is all out of proportion. She’s imbalanced, with a flat chest, stupid big butt, and skinny legs, that may be hairy! She’s a monster, poised to corrupt the morals of children in America, just by her being!She becomes a little black devil woman, needing to be stopped, maybe with a rope around her neck.
People, be careful of how you think!
As someone who once made a living in the arts and by extension being involved in blogging today and putting my opinion out into the public realm, I know that when an artist puts out a piece of work, it will affect people in different ways. Some people will be attracted to it, some will be repelled. Some will even see it within a certain political, social and cultural context and be empowered by it. In the case of Ms. Badu, as I stated above, I saw it as a publicity stunt to sell cds. She got people talking about the video for a minute, paid her fine (I believe) and moved on. Nevertheless, whether you are supportive of a 5 1/2 minute music video with some nudity or found it inappropriate, isn’t a statement on whether you value a black woman’s body or not.
Ultimately I believe an artist wants to affect people and they realize that the result may be good, bad or indifferent. That’s the risk and price they pay in search of accolades. We may not agree with differing opinions about the artist’s work, but each is relevant to the person who is moved by that work. In this particular case, I don’t know if we need to “be careful of how you think” as much as we need to accept that varying opinions about an artist’s work are valid… as harsh as they may be.
I applaud Erikas courage to follow the dollars, but as an artist I was sad. She was the one artist who stood a chance of being able to say ITS ONLY ABOUT MY ART!!! After having watched the skillful way Deangelo ALMOST showed everything then went spiraling because all audiences wanted was to see his body I am crushed. I spend my days and nights filtering thru this ocean of crap we now days call music and am left wanting. Even though i didnt agree with her spiritualistic perspective I could always hold up her music and until this, image as classy. ANYWAY I digress, as a father of a 6 year old girl I shudder to think what if it had been eric bonet in stead of Erika badu and I was now forced to explain the intricacies of the anatomy. I am in no way disillusioned thinking that I can wait until she is 13 or 14 but it really my wife and I have spent painstaking years to protect her innocence that should not be able to be taken away for a publicity stunt or a financial plan. Someone posted a comment earlier about museums and kids being taken there everyday the difference is those parents chose to expose their kids to that imagery. As a believer in Jesus the Christ I think its sad that we have brain washed our men to believe this is the only way to buy product and sadder that we have brain washed our women to accept it and not only allow but be willing participants in it. Money is nice and its nice to have but so is pride and honor. Now that the world has seen it all what is left for the king you desired to be queen for sis??? IJS