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Feminist
black performance artist Sarah Jones and less-than-politically-correct
white rapper Eminem aren't an obvious pair. But the Federal Communications
Commission has censored both artists by recently issuing $7000
indecency fines to radio stations for playing their songs.
Ironically,
Jones's "Your Revolution" makes a powerful statement
against indecency--in particular, the sexual exploitation of women
in popular music. The song, originally a poem, pulls no punches
in making its feminist critique, taking direct aim at famous hip-hop
songs by artists including LL Cool J and Notorious B.I.G. by quoting
and then denouncing some of their macho lyrics.
"The
hip-hop game is very misogynistic," explains Deena Barnwell,
a volunteer DJ at Portland's KBOO-FM radio. "I've been totally
disrespected as a woman in this game. Jones's song is inspirational.
It says it's cool, you can be in the hip-hop game, but you don't
have to be no 'ho. There's nothing else out there besides this
song that tells girls that. I feel like it's a personal responsibility
for me as a B-girl to get it out there." So Barnwell played
the track, and according to the FCC, a listener was offended by
an October 20, 1999, airing.
Station
manager Chris Merrick figured the song's empowerment message would
easily exempt it from the FCC investigation, which beginning this
February looked at about a half-dozen other hip-hop songs broadcast
on KBOO. "We all had a very good feeling about this song,"
he says. According to its written guidelines, the aim of the largely
listener-supported station is "filling needs that other media
do not, providing programming to diverse communities and unserved
or underserved groups."
In
fact, the Jones song was the only one to make the FCC's final
cut. "Our lawyer and I were both stunned," says Merrick, when
they received the May 17 notice fining KBOO for airing indecent
language at a time—between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.Ñwhen children
might have been listening. "The rap song, 'Your Revolution,' "
the notice states, "contains unmistakable patently offensive sexual
references. . . . [T]he sexual references appear to be designed
to pander and shock. . . . " Merrick objects, "It's clearly not
pandering. In fact, I thought it was antisexual."
The
FCC's characterization of the song betrays a deep political and
cultural ignorance, argues the station. "The contemporary social
commentary in 'Your Revolution' is a relevant contextual consideration,
but is not in itself dispositive," concludes the agency notice.
KBOO lawyer John Crigler argues, "[The FCC] oversimplified the
context. We said, you gotta listen to the song. You have to understand
that the song itself, musically, is a critique, it's a feminist
attack on macho values of typical rap music. And you don't get
that unless you listen to something. The commission just said,
no thanks, we don't want to consider that." Fearing further fines,
KBOO management temporarily suspended Barnwell and then moved
her show to after 10 p.m., when the FCC believes children will
not be listening. Other programmers have also been warned of decency
issues, but Crigler says the station will challenge the fine and
the reasoning behind it in a July appeal.
Most
troubling about the FCC finding to "Your Revolution" supporters
is that it condemns precisely the elements of the song that make
it such an effective protest in the first place. The feminist
message would less likely grab listeners' attention if it did
not use such familiar lyrics, according to DJ Barnwell. The original
rhymes are offensive, says Jones, and they are especially troubling
because they are so popular; that's why she highlighted and responded
to them in a song of protest.
But
the FCC has reinforced the very image of women as sexual teases
that the song means to challenge, protests Jones. "Your Revolution"
was inspired by her experience "as a black woman, growing up in
a culture where women of color too often are perceived as somehow
oversexed," she says. "I read these words—that I'm sexually
pandering and intending to shock—and it was just so clear
to me that they were attacking my freedom as a person, as a woman,
and as a woman of color, to defend myself." The FCC enforcement
bureau's John Winston refused to comment on the KBOO case.
Although
the government hasn't officially targeted the artist, the acclaimed
poet and creator of the one-woman show Surface Transit
is taking the notice personally. Along with the principle of free
expression, the performer says, her main line of work—education,
through institutionally funded programs—is at stake. "Your
Revolution" has been the hallmark of her approximately 60 school
workshops in the past year. "A slur like 'sexually indecent'
attached to my name, I think that's a red flag for anybody that's
working with kids," Jones says.
But
Jo-Ann Estella, principal of the Board of Education's Rosewood
High School on Riker's Island, where Jones has made several appearances,
stresses that Jones's June 21 invitation there still stands. "When
Sarah Jones came in, she performed, and the girls were spellbound,
as was the staff. Everything that she spoke to in her poetry was
positive and resonated with a lot of our young ladies," says
the principal.
A
Web site devoted exclusively to mobilizing around the song is
going up this week. Jones has support from the likes of Danny
Hoch and Gloria Steinem, and she is speaking with First Amendment
lawyers about pursuing a case.
But
music industry veterans say the fight against the government may
be uphill. The appointment of Colin Powell's son, Michael Powell,
as chair of the FCC, they argue, has sparked an unprecedented
indecency crackdown. The FCC's Winston would not provide figures
for complaint and investigation rates, but he volunteered, "There's
been no new shift, no new program, no new position, of the FCC."
The enforcement bureau Web site shows 29 actions in 2000 and 2001
but gives no earlier data.
Certain
commissioners have publicly deplored the agency's history of relative
leniency. Calling for stricter on-air decency standards, commissioner
Susan Ness this April exhorted stations to monitor their programming
more closely and broadcast "in a manner that celebrates rather
than debases humankind."
For
Hunter College student Veronica De La Rosa, Jones's song does
just that. "Sometimes we listen but we don't actually hear. .
. . Bringing out the famous rappers and their lyrics allowed me
to see that they are viewing women as sex objects," she writes
in a class essay. "Jones tells us women that we don't have to
allow these lyrics to be true, because 'Your revolution will not
happen between these thighs.' "
For
more information on Sarah Jones, go to www.sarahjonesonline.com
Sarah
Jones (Village Voice photo by Sylvia Plachy)
