August 8, 2007

A couple of hundred protesters converged on the Virgin Megastore in Times Square yesterday to demand an end to the increasing violence and sexism in rap lyrics.

The Day of Outrage called on state governments across the country to divest their pension funds of entertainment companies that promote offensive language.

"New York State has $3 billion invested in companies that use [derogatory] words ..." said Rachel Noerdlinger, spokeswoman for the National Action Network, which co-sponsored the rally along with the National Organization for Women and the Nation of Islam. "They need to quit."
Their push has already gotten the attention of Albany. Last month, state Sen. Antoine Thompson (D-Buffalo) began a series of forums with representatives from the entertainment industry.

"We want to work with the entertainment industry to get them to remove those words from music videos and lyrics," he said. "We can redirect that to companies that are more responsive, companies we don't invest that much in right now."

He listed 4Kids Entertainment, the producers of the "Pokemon" TV shows, as a more appropriate destination for the state's pension funds.

The issue of offensive language on the airwaves received new attention in April after radio shock jock Don Imus made a derogatory reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team. Since then, the Rev. Al Sharpton has spearheaded an effort to rid hip-hop lyrics of similar language, and recently the City Council passed a symbolic ban of a racial epithet.

"We need to make it so that the media understand that people are not putting up with the constant negative imagery that the media wants to perpetuate on us for people's own misogynistic views and to perpetuate their own inadequacies," said Councilman Leroy Comrie, (D-Queens), one of the sponsors of the legislation. "People are organizing against it."

The protesters in Times Square were part of a larger nationwide campaign that included 19 other U.S. cities.

"The Don Imus controversy has been a real gift," said Sonia Ossorio, spokeswoman for the National Organization for Women. "That situation lit people's fires and gave them an outlet to say this isn't cool. I think the culture has changed and people don't find that kind of thing funny anymore."