By Richard O. Jones

No matter how deplorable an insult launched at African Americans by another African American, the sting is neutralized by kinship. When Blacks are not degrading each other, we love the use the greeting Brother and Sister as means of recognizing our connection. Therefore, when rappers disgrace Black women, they are overlooked on the grounds of kinship, ignorance, immaturity and being victims of self-hatred. However, when a white person does or says the same thing, it’s not overlooked and is considered racist.

When Don Imus called the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team “nappy-headed hos” on his radio show, he might as well have said “nappy-headed slaves.” Although the epithet “ho” is not racist on its face, neither is the word “nappy;” but, when spewed from white lips directed at Black women, a different dynamic develops. Most Black women have been desensitized to the overused slang “ho.” In fact, one of the Rutgers players summed it up this way: "Unless they've given “ho” a whole new definition, that's not what I am," said Kia Vaughn, the team's sophomore center (with straight hair). Then Rutgers' players and Head Coach C. Vivian Stringer (another woman with long, straight hair) said it's not about the players "as Black or nappy-headed. It's about us as a people.” Even Stringer didn’t right away address the dehumanizing insulting of her team, which is partially white, being called “hos” right away, but instead “Black and nappy-headed.” The team captain, Essence Carson (another Black woman with straightened hair), said, “I know rap has desensitized Americans... but Imus is no excuse.”
Imus’ unforgivable sin was using the despised word “nappy” on national radio. Blacks resent being called nappy-headed, although many Blacks acknowledge that they have nappy hair, and in private they describe it that way.

Imus wasn’t the first white person to feel Black wrath because of the word “nappy.” In September 1998, the book Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron, a Black author, was read to third graders in Brooklyn New York public school by a young white teacher named Ruth Sherman. Her third graders loved it. However, by late November 1998, misinformed members of the community demanded her termination by the school board for reading a book about nappy hair. The protesting adults were not parents of the third graders, but outraged community members, mostly Black females, responding to misleading flyers that were circulated through the community about the “racist” book. Ultimately, Sherman transferred to another school district after fearing for her safety.

Black women have fought the stigma of nappy hair since the slavery era. It was Dorothy Malone and Madame C. J. Walker, over a century ago, that offered Black women a reprieve from nappy-headedness with their hair care inventions. Since that time, Black women have identified straight hair with beauty. For many Black women, being called nappy-headed opens deep-seated wounds that are buried under hair relaxers, hair weaves and press and curls. Ironically, the industry that saturates the airwaves with messages of inferiority to Black women about their hair is the very industry that employs Don Imus – the television and movie industry. Imus' radio show, WFAN-AM, is syndicated nationally and managed by CBS Corporation and MSNBC, which simulcasts the show on cable and is part of NBC Universal, which is owned by General Electric Co. In 2004 GE bought Vivendi's television and movie assets, becoming the third largest media conglomerate in the world. The movie industry is directly connected to the cosmetic companies, which encourage Black women to purchase their many hair-straightening products.

Ultimately, Imus will be ousted because Blacks will never forgive him for calling them nappy-headed, and will turn against the advertisers that support his show. L’Oreal and Revlon will continue to dangle Beyonce and Queen Latifah on the TV screen with long-flowing, chemically treated hair with the subtle message “don’t be nappy.” Unlike the uneducated or ghetto-minded Black rappers that disgrace Black women with kinship immunity, Imus’ sin is unforgivable because he is white and lacks that dubious privilege.

Editor’s note: Richard O. Jones is a columnist for Black Voice News in San Bernardino, CA and author of Natural... The Beautiful ‘N’ Word: Breaking the Psychological Bondage of the American Standard of Beauty.