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Published: June 28, 2005 CONTROVERSIAL WEB SITE SAYS AMEN TO BILL COSBY'S INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS ABOUT THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA Has Generation X embraced Afristocracy?
Washington, DC (BlackNews.com) - Controversial website says, Bill Cosby was right. HotGhettoMess.com bills itself as a call-to-arms of sorts to challenge the African-American community to examine how it is living and looking. With over 50 million hits, it is quickly becoming the new darling of the Internet. The site, created by recent Georgetown University Law Center graduate, Jam Donaldson, features images of the African-American community at its worst. She considers the site constructive criticismthis site wags a shameful finger at those who bring us all down with their foolishness. Jam Donaldson, after receiving dozens of emails featuring photos of X-rated high school proms, street fights, and children dressed as pimps, decided there had to be a way to turn these images into a force for change because unfortunately, they represent us all when they go out into the streets like this, act like this, go to work like this, sing lyrics like this. She challenges the likes of Michael Eric Dyson who would call such an endeavor an exercise in Afristocracy, this is not an elitist or classist endeavor. "Money has nothing to do with it," Jam says. "A lot of folks in these pictures are doing just fine. Check out the Celebrity Mess section to see that money doesn't equal class. Alternatively, look at old photos of African-Americans in the 1920s-1960s when we didn't have a pot to piss in, but damn we looked good, we had class and style and pride in our image." No one is immune from the judgment of hotghettomess.com, from Boo-Boo to Beyonce - the site features celebrities, song lyrics, and a category appropriately named Just Sad which features shocking and heartbreaking images of popular culture. The site garners over 8,000 unique visits a day and has attracted attention from Hollywood. HotGhettoMess.com: The DVD has just been released and is being sold through the website. From school to music to clothing to behavior, where have our standards gone? Are we now to accept any and everything? And if our own can't come out and point out whats wrong, how can we ever get better? There is a new trend in the African-American community focusing on personal and financial responsibility and HotGhettoMess.com is leading the parade. She gets plenty of support all over the world--from London to Germany and from New York to Alabama. She also receives plenty of feedback from those who feel the site is exploitive and denigrating to Blacks. To her opponents she responds, "To all of you who are angry at me for airing our dirty laundry-- good, I'm glad you're angry, now maybe collectively, we'll be forced to finally go wash it." www.hotghettomess.com |
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