A few years before Aretha Franklin sang “Respect.” Before her, Otis Redding’s version had a laudable meaning, too. When Aretha sang “Respect” in 1967, she turned the song into something women have never let go. The song became a powerful anthem for many, but more so for Black women. It still resonates with us today. Her version was not just about resonating with our civil rights. It also resonated with our feminine side. Anyway, you look at it, “Respect” is a most powerful song for Black people, especially for Black women.

Whenever we hear that song, no matter who else likes it, we know she made it for us. Today we are still crying out for respect. When I hear Black men and women getting rich at the expense of Black women, it’s painful. Too many rappers have taken the 30 pieces of silver to denigrate us, and I’ll be the first to admit, it’s done not only by men, but by a growing number of Black women rappers.

If you’ve ever listened to the vulgarity in some of the songs, you can be sure those who are backing them financially or otherwise never intended for us to believe they’re talking about women other than Black women. Yet, it’s the Black woman who has given birth to them, nursed them to adulthood while she herself may have had little or no joy in life, but she cared about her sons and daughters to the extent that she could without ever complaining. Life most likely had not treated her with respect, but she gave the best she had to her children.

Unfortunately, some of them grew to be influenced by outside influences who taught them and paid them to disrespect their mothers, daughters, nieces, wives and girlfriends. It’s time for us to get back to promoting RESPECT for Black women and girls.

During this past week, the National Congress of Black Women joined with Bob Law (Chair of National Black Leadership Alliance) and Kwabena Rasuli (Chair of Clear the Airwaves Project) to once again work to end the travesty of what negative rapping is doing to our community — especially to Black women. Aretha has left us, but our desire for respect is still with us.

Bob Law reminds us that our ancestors have won every challenge they’ve seriously taken on. There was a time we were in slavery. They brought us up from slavery. We now have a right to be educated. We now have a right to non-segregated housing. Once we couldn’t vote; now we can. There’s more that our ancestors did, but you get the idea. Our ancestors made a difference then, and we have a duty to make a difference now. We must change the conditions under which our children grow. Some believe they can only make a living by denigrating our people—especially women.

It’s time for us to support conscious rappers/artists who work to perfect our community while others try to tear us down. More information is forthcoming. We’re tired of begging radio stations to stop promoting filthy lyrics about us. We’re tired of begging advertisers to stop sustaining them while playing filthy, racist, misogynist music 24 hours a day. We met with many powerful women this past week where media chose not to carry our story—but our ancestors didn’t have supportive media either—but the word got out. Action followed—and we can do it again.

It’s time to “Wake Up and Stay Woke.” Shortly we’ll be announcing specifically what we’re asking you to do. The time has come for us to demand respect with more than our words.

This article originally published in the October 22, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.