A couple of months ago when John Mayer spoke smack about Black women, I — along with a number of women — abused him via our blogs, podcasts, Twitter rants and Facebook pages. So, when I read on Clutch Magazine the ignorance that Slim Thug was spewing I decided to dedicate my Side-eye of the week to him.

Pretty much, this loser thinks that Black women must bow down and serve their men like our white counterparts do. I don’t know about you, but the white women that I know aren’t going to be down with any of that foolishness either. I don’t know where this stereotype of the soft, floor mat white girl comes from, but someone better tell the white women I know that they are a bit too opinionated and stand up for themselves too much.

Read what he says about his girlfriend:

My girl is Black and White. I guess the half White in her is where she still cooks and do all the shit I say, so we make it. She just takes care of me and I like that.” He continues to half humiliate and half praise his half White girl. “She don’t be begging and I don’t gotta buy her all this crazy ass shit. And she’s a smart girl too. She graduated from Columbia and I like that about her so its cool.

Right — only her white half graduated. The Black half is in remedial studies somewhere.

I don’t understand this backwards talk. This dude is speaking as if all Black women are looking for his loot (as if Slim Thug is pulling dollars like Jay-Z) and that’s a trait that only Black women have. I don’t bow down to my husband — and doesn’t expect me to. We have a partnership and we respect each other. I would hope whatever the colour of my skin, the man I’m with you treat me with respect and love.

I’m so tired of this foolishness and that so many people think this way about me. Just because I’m Black I’m suddenly everyone’s whipping girl. Enough. The colour of my skin doesn’t determine who I am.

Sigh.

Whatever Slim Jackass. Keep disrespecting Black women because you’re disrespecting your mother, aunties, grandmother, sisters and your girl, who is biracial — she got some Black in there. Granted, I do not partake in Mr. Thug’s brand of music, so it won’t be hard to rid my life of him and his bitchassness.

Meh. I don’t have the energy or the time to really get into Slim Thug’s pathology. Sorry I’m not as animated or riled up — I’ve had a hard morning and I’m trying to catch up. I have real work to finish, so I leave you to read the full article at Clutch Magazine and leave your comments.

Edited June 10 @ 10:37 am

I just read this at theYBF.com – a rebuttal from Marc Lamont Hill to Slim Thug. Check it here:

Slim,

A few days ago, you made comments in Vibe magazine that have caused a great deal of controversy. While I appreciate your willingness to offer your opinion in public, you made several statements that were not only unfair and untrue, but deeply damaging to our community. Normally, I would reach out to you privately, but since your comments were made in a very public place, I feel compelled to respond in the same manner.

As an artist who is respected by millions of fans, particularly young ones, I found your comments to be hurtful and irresponsible. For good or for bad, our children follow the lead of you and other artists for everything from fashion and slang to self-esteem, body image and relationships. Imagine how a young black girl feels to hear from you, her role model, that her “standards are too high” and that she should “bow down” and “settle for less.” Consider the pain that our beautiful brown skinned babies feel when Yung Berg says he doesn’t date “dark butts.” Think about the self-esteem of our community when Nelly refers to our mothers, sisters, and daughters as “Tip Drills.”

As celebrities, your public comments are not just your own. Instead they influence the choices, beliefs, and lives of an entire generation of young people who look to you for direction.

Of course, you have every right to say things that you think are true. The problem, however, is that there was very little truth in your comments.

In your interview, you talk about how much better white women treat their partners than black women. If what you’re saying is true, why do Whites have the highest divorce rate of any group? Do white men get tired of being treated like kings? In reality, it seems that you are buying into (and selling) a stale but dangerous ideal that constructs White women as ultra-feminine, loving, queens, and Black women as angry, selfish, and untrustworthy hoes.

Even more disturbing was your comment that “Black women gotta start being down for their man more.” Since slavery, Black women have had to withstand rape, torture, and humiliation (from both white and black men) in order to sustain their families. Now, in 2010, 1 in 3 Black men between 20 and 29 years old are incarcerated or otherwise under criminal supervision. Every day, Black women are raising children without men in the house, working multiple jobs (for less pay!), and supporting brothers as they finish their prison bids.

With Black male unemployment as high as 50 percent in some cities, sisters are often holding down households without child support or other financial assistance. Black female incarceration rates are skyrocketing, partly because Black women are “riding” for their men, hiding guns and drugs, operating as mules, and refusing to snitch to authorities. In addition, Black women are the group most likely to be victims of domestic violence and the least likely to be married. Still, in spite of all this bad news, Black women are less likely to date outside their race than Black men.

How much more “down” do you want Black women to be?

I agree with you that both brothers and sisters have work to do. Over the last year, we’ve seen countless TV shows, movies, and bestselling books telling Black women how broken they are, how ugly they are, why they don’t have a man, and how they need to  behave. Instead of adding to this pile of pain and ignorance, I would encourage you to turn the mirror on yourself. How does the image of the pimp/player/baller/dopeboy promoted in your music help to create the “gold diggers” that you badmouth in your interviews? How might your own admitted failures at monogamy undermine the type of loyalty that you find missing in Black women? Criticizing the vulnerable is easy. Working on yourself is the difficult part.

The world is watching. What will you do?

Your Brother,

Marc Lamont Hill

I hope you don’t take this letter as an attack, but as an act of concern and love from one brother to another. Through your fame and wealth, you have tremendous power. You can use it to hurt or to heal, to injure or to inspire.

I like this Marc Lamont Hill dude — I’ve seen him on CNN. He makes very good points about the hatred that we’re seeing in the Black community especially in terms of relationships between men and women. In situations like these, you need another man to correct Slim Thug. This argument would hold no weight coming from Aisha Tyler or another woman. When a man calls out another man on his foolishness, people listen. If a woman does it she just sounds like one of those bitter bishes that Slim Thug is talking about… well, at least that’s what some people would think. I hope some more men come out and explain why downing Black women is not going to help our communities. Hill Harper! Where are you, brother?