International President's Outrage Over Imus' Remarks Contributes to Dismissal
Urges members to stop buying music that vilifies Black women
International President Barbara A. McKinzie was among the national leaders who called for the dismissal of radio personality Don Imus in the wake of his egregious comments directed toward the Rutgers University women's basketball team. She also demanded the dismissal of producer Bernard McGuirk for his role in triggering the incident.
McKinzie asked members to stop purchasing music of those Black rappers who debase and disrespect women in their lyrics. She noted that Imus and McGuirk's remarks were co-opted from the lyrics of the rappers who have become rich—and made White producers wealthy—with their disrespectful music.
In her statement, she evoked the name of C. Delores Tucker, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, who waged a valiant—but lonely—crusade to stop hurtful lyrics from invading the airwaves.
In her plea, she asked that members divest themselves of all shares of stock in companies with an interest in either CBS or MSNBC.
It was a winning strategy as McKinzie's voice—in combination with a national outcry—yielded results when Imus was fired from MSNBC and CBS Radio.
Click for a complete text of the release [PDF]