Explaining racism to people who’ve never had to deal with it must be like explaining the birthing process to a man. They’ll just never get it.

Eva Hoeke’s resignation from Jackie magazine following the Rihannagate situation earlier this week appeared to be an admission of wrongdoing on their part—but just to make sure no one would think such a ridiculous thing, the magazine’s publisher, Yves Gijrath,  has issued a statement of his own, saying quite the opposite. According to an interpretation, he said:

[T]here is nothing wrong in the magazine. [Hoeke] presented it as a joke, but it most certainly was not a joke. It was an interpretation [of a fashion style]. [...] She should have said: “we did not realize this interpretation is such a touchy subject. We never meant any harm and offer our sincere and upright apologies.” But because of all the fuss, Eva started to wiggle in all directions, and therefore we have come to the conclusion her credibility has been undermined.”

And while that seems like a step in the right apologetic direction, Gijrath followed the statement up by emphasizing that although the magazine had invited Rihanna to respond, it would not be printing a retraction.”We will not be silenced. People are totally off limits when calling both the magazine Jackie and Eva Hoeke racist. Jackie is even produced by an editorial staff that is of mixed origins.”

Is that sort of like saying, “I have black friends?” Would people be off limits if they called Jackie, Eva Hoeke, and Yves Gijrath ignorant?

I need for Gijrath to recognize that with his words he basically undid the sorry apology that Hoeke issued in the first place by saying it wasn’t her editorial judgment that got her fired, it was her refusal to stand by the magazine’s decision to publish racist and sexist terms. Perhaps he isn’t so concerned with how he’s skewed the image of black women in America by printing this article; and it’s evident he doesn’t care whether or not we feel disrespected by those words, but how have we come to the point that we’re not even deserving of an adequate apology?

In so many instances we hear apologies that we know were forced and don’t hold much weight, but the fact that the publisher doesn’t see fit to issue his own speaks to how unimportant he sees this issue. It’s not enough to say Hoeke should have offered her utmost sincere apologies, where are his?

Anyone with a tenth of a brain knows the history of the N-word, and even if you chose to ignore that for your own racist enjoyment, is it cool to refer to a woman as a B in a female magazine? I guess as long as she’s black, right?

Jackie continues to dig itself into an even deeper hole with this situation and unfortunately there is little we can do here in America as consumers. Hopefully those who receive the Dutch magazine and who initially expressed outrage at its poor word choice will vote with their feet and cancel their subscriptions, and maybe even advertisers will take a second look at how the magazine upheld its “integrity” among this scandal. This entire situation serves as a reminder of how far we still need to go—-not that we really needed one.

What do you think about the publisher’s words?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Well that didn’t take long. Eva Hoeke, editor-in-chief of Jackie, the controversial magazine that’s having a PR nightmare over the racist terms used in an article to describe Rihanna, has resigned. According to Necole Bitchie, the editor and the publisher felt her credibility were compromised by the incident, and in a statement on the publication’s Facebook page, she announced she is laying down her editorial responsibilities. Here’s what the statement says:

I realize that my first reaction on Twitter, where I indicated that it was a joke, was an incomplete description of what I, and also the author of the article referred. The term ‘n—a b—h’ h” has come over from America and we have only this to describe this particular style of clothes that we can try to interpret. Due to the enormous pressure from social media, I promised to do better regarding the language in future issues of Jackie and I have offered to rectify the situation.

I have now come to the conclusion that rectification is not the right solution. I regret that I have taken too quickly positions on an item in Jackie – which incidentally had no underlying racial motive. In the course of events I went with, the publisher came to the conclusion that, now that my credibility is affected, it’s better for all parties if I immediately lay down my duties as editor. After my eight years giving my heart and soul for Jackie, I realize that these errors – although not malicious intent – are a reason for leaving. “

What do you think about the editor resigning? Is it the right thing to do?

In a twitter lashing that only Rihanna is fit to dish out, the pop star nicely laid into Jackie editor-in-chief Eva Hoeke for dismissing the n****b**** term used to describe her as a “stupid joke.” Here’s what she tweeted:

@evajackie I hope u can read english, because your magazine is a poor representation of the evolution of human rights! I find you disrespectful, and rather desperate!! You ran out of legit, civilized information to print! There are 1000′s of Dutch girls who would love to be recognized for their contributions to your country, you could have given them an article. Instead, u paid to print one degrading an entire race! That’s your contribution to this world! To encourage segregation, to mislead the future leaders to act in the past! You put two words together,with the intent of abasement, that made no sense…”N**** B****”?!….

Well with all respect, on behalf of my race, here are my two words for you…F*** YOU!!!

Rihanna is known to check someone quickly on twitter so we all should have seen this one coming. What do you think of her response?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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The words Dutch magazine Jackie used to describe Rihanna in their latest issue make the pop star’s racist altercation in Portugal this weekend almost seem harmless.

In a very crass description of the singer’s image, the author of the article writes:

She has street cred, she has a ghetto a** and she has a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate n****b**** and displays that gladly, and for her that means: what’s on can come off. If that means she’ll be on stage half naked, then so be it. But Dutch winters aren’t like Jamaican ones, so pick a clothing style in which your daughter can resist minus ten. No to the big sunglasses and the pornheels, and yes to the tiger print, pink shizzle and everything that glitters. Now let’s hope she won’t beat anybody up at daycare.

Thankfully, readers were not shy about their disapproval of the article’s racial slur, and their reactions prompted the magazine’s editor-in-chief to issue an apology, writing on Facebook:

Dear readers,

First: thanks for all your responses. We are of course very fed up over this and especially very shocked. However I’m glad that we’re engaging in a dialogue on this page — not everybody does that. Thanks for this. Other than that I can be brief about this: this should have never happened.Period. While the author meant no harm — the title of the article was intended as a joke — it was a bad joke, to say the least. And that slipped through my, the editor-in-chief’s, fingers. Stupid, painful and sucks for all concerned. The author has been addressed on it, and now I can only ensure that these terms will no longer end up in the magazine. Furthermore I hope that you all believe there was absolutely no racist motive behind the choice of words. It was stupid, it was naive to think that this was an acceptable form of slang — you hear it all the time on tv and radio, then your idea of what is normal apparently shifts — but it was especially misguided: there was no malice behind it. We make our magazine with love, energy and enthusiasm, and it can sometimes happen that someone is out of line. And then you can only do one thing: apologize. And hope that others wish to accept it.

From the bottom of my heart I say it again: we never intended to offend anyone. And I mean that.

Regards,

Eva Hoeke

What a convenient slip. Regardless of what you think about Rihanna and her wild-child image, this article is beyond her. It speaks volumes to people’s attitudes about black women and their obliviousness to the inappropriateness of offensive language directed at us. The slang most likely slipped through the editor-in-chief’s fingers because it’s a term she has no problem applying to black women herself.

The article also exemplifies the reason black women police one another’s women’s images so much. Rihanna is not at fault for the racial slurs directed at her, but it’s a reminder of how black women are not allowed to be overly sexual or have a “bad girl” image without being racially and sexually targeted.

What do you think about the magazine publishing these words and backtracking? Do you think the editor-in-chief’s apology is sincere? Do you think this term is specific to Rihanna or perceptions of black women in general?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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