You are the daughters of two continents, Africa and America. I embrace you, I celebrate you. You don’t stand alone. If the first woman created (the black woman), was able to turn the world upside down, now we can turn it right side up again. Winnie Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela, at the Million Woman March in Philadelphia. The march was a day of reflection, resurrection and atonement for black women.

The purpose of the march is to combat the suffering and disrespect of black women that is apparent all over the world, including at SIUC. I believe that the Kappa Alpha Psi Player’s Ball March 21 proves that the march was extremely necessary. The winner of the ball received the Pimp of the Year award. What does a person have to do to win?

These players or pimps strutted around stage, degrading black women (their wives, daughters and mothers) by calling them whores and bitches. In addition, they also performed sexually explicit acts on women while on stage. One pimp had a line of five women that he referred to as Alpha Gamma whores. The auditorium was packed with black people celebrating and laughing the demeaning and degrading actions.

Advertisement

These acts are detrimental because a nation cannot rise any higher than its women and the black nation is in an extreme state of emergency. These pimps and players are destroying the black women and family. Black women are the most likely among all ethnic groups in America to be violently raped, assaulted or victims of homicides. Single-parent households are the norm for us. These female-headed households are easier for white supremacy to control, wherein black women must confront a white-dominated male society alone, and their children are much more likely to be incarcerated. These types of situations are reasons why I decided to coordinate transportation to the Million Woman March, I felt compelled to inform SIUC about the Player’s Ball and about the tremendous opposition we faced in receiving transportation to the march by this University.

You may recall the editorial written by the Daily Egyptian (Oct. 23, 1997) that requested for the participants to March Home. In essence, they wanted us to stay at home and not receive the important message of rebuilding our families, institutions and schools and most importantly to respect yourself.

Where was the outcry from the same newspaper about this Player’s Ball? Black students should take extreme measures to stop this annual event. For those who disagree with my words, just ask yourself, Would you ask Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks or Winnie Mandela to attend or be part of this ball? If not, why would you ask your black queens on campus?