First off, apologies to writer bell hooks for swiping the title of her book aimed at little girls, which is a celebration of unprocessed black hair. But the fact is, I am happy to have nappy hair, in large part because it’s what God gave me naturally. Why would I want to go and slather all sorts of toxic chemicals on it just to conform to what Western culture deems “attractive” hair?
However, while I certainly am proud to be nappy, don’t call me a nappy-headed ho unless you want your face to look like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone.
And thus we come to the real reason for this month’s column: Don Imus.
And don’t y’all worry yourselves, I have my share of criticism for the young ladies whom Imus insulted as well as for Imus himself.
If I’ve already confused you as to what the hell I’m talking about, let me recap: The Rutgers University women’s basketball team lost to Tennessee in the NCAA finals April 3. The following morning, on MSNBC’s Imus in the Morning, the show’s executive producer, Bernard McGuirk, referred to the mostly-African-American members of the Rutgers team as “hard-core hos,” after which host Don Imus referred to them as “nappy-headed hos.”
For those who are a little behind on hip-hop nomenclature, "ho" is short for whore. It’s a lovely little slur that too many people love to slap on black women to show their total disrespect for their womanhood and their humanity.
First off, can we please agree that even though tactless rappers and other assorted riff-raff in the black community use terms like ho, nigger, and the like, that doesn’t give license to white people to spout off in the same way? The terms are loaded enough when tossed around by blacks, whether in jest or in anger, but I think it should be clear that they are way more loaded and inflammatory when used by people who are the same color as the slave owners.
So, as you can imagine, I don’t mourn the loss of Don Imus from the airwaves. He called a team of college students who had made a huge sports achievement a bunch of whores, and he made it a racial situation by adding in the "nappy-headed" part, showing blatant disrespect for both their race and their gender. Yeah, I know, his job was to insult and disrespect people on a daily basis. But to rip out racial slurs against women who are getting an education and are talented athletes is just being mean for no good reason. That’s the kind of crap that sets back any progress for whites and blacks to get along.
Now, let me address the Rutgers team, at least one of whom reacted to the slur by wondering why Imus would call her nappy-headed, when she combs her hair. Ladies, I don’t know how many of you process your hair, but why, oh why, would any of you be more insulted by being called nappy than being called whores? It’s a measure of how much we’ve internalized race hatred that such an overwhelming number of black women go through hundreds of dollars on a regular basis to make their hair look more like that of white women. Why do we need to adjust to another culture’s standard of beauty? Can’t we find the beauty in what we have and what we are?
