Rapper Azealia Banks' Twitter exchange with Sarah Palin Wednesday ended in her suggesting the conservative politician be gang-raped. Banks' callous comment came after she mistook a satire as authentic. In the fictional piece, the writer says Palin believes "African-Americans accepted slavery willingly." Banks may have read the story as fact, but that doesn't justify her cruelty toward Palin. Her bizarre apology did little to smooth things over and her comments deserve to be condemned.
Many key feminist groups, however, have yet to speak up.
EMILY's List is always the first organization to respond when a male legislator presents a piece of pro-life legislation. Protecting abortion, the group believes, is synonymous with women's health. Nearly every day they blast out an email denouncing Republican politicians while purporting to promote feminism. On Wednesday, however, no such email from EMILY's List exists to express their rejection of Banks' callous message for Palin. They did, however, offer more commentary on Donald Trump's controversial abortion remarks from last week and encouraged supporters to donate money to defeat him.
Likewise, The National Organization for Women, which supposedly works to protect women's representation in the media, has yet to respond to the attacks on Palin. So, Banks' violent suggestion goes largely unchallenged.
As usually happens when Palin is the victim of a cruel attack, the former governor had a powerful and biting response on her Facebook page.
Hey Female Rapper - listen up, little darling. No one has any idea what you're wigging out about in these bizarre, violent rants against me, but you're obviously not exercising enough intelligence to acknowledge you've been sucked into believing some fake interview in which I supposedly offered comments representing the antithesis of my truth.
In this life, you're blessed to have been given an influential platform. So have I. Why don't we strengthen both our platforms and work together on something worthwhile - like condemning racism, along with empowering young women to defend themselves against a most misogynist, degrading, devastating assault perpetrated by evil men - rape.
Thanks. And now I'll go through my young daughter's playlist to make sure there hasn't been any inadvertent addition of any anti-woman, pro-rape garbage that you seem to endorse, which perpetuates the cultural challenges we face in America. I encourage other parents to do the same.
God bless you Ms. Banks, as you consider a change of heart.
- Sarah Palin
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Looks like she doesn't need NOW's help after all.
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