Nappy-headed Hos. The American public became well acquainted with the term after Don Imus, controversial talk show host and writer, referred to Rutgers University women’s basketball team as such on his talk show, Imus in the Morning.
“IMUS: So, I watched the basketball game last night between -- a little bit of Rutgers and Tennessee, the women's final.
ROSENBERG: Yeah, Tennessee won last night -- seventh championship for [Tennessee coach] Pat Summitt, I-Man. They beat Rutgers by 13 points.
IMUS: That's some rough girls from Rutgers. Man, they got tattoos and --
McGUIRK: Some hard-core hos.
IMUS: That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm gonna tell you that now, man, that's some -- woo”(1).
The black community and feminists responded with a roar. Sponsors started dropping their support. CBS canceled Imus in the Morning (2). Some argue this infringes on Imus’s First Amendment rights. In fact, it does not. As a private company, CBS has the right to promote who they wish. CBS has the right to protect their financial support, advertisers. Advertisers have the right to please their consumer base, the public. This process is capitalism at its best, protecting the public’s interest. In this instance, the damage had unfortunately been done. Capitalism could only protect the public from possible future threats. But what exactly was the damage?
Nappy can be considered the original N-word. Since the days of slavery, nappy has been used to describe the coarse nature of African hair. During these times, the natural hair texture of blacks was considered a negative attribute compared to desirable European hair. “Even within the community, nappy hair for a long time was seen as a bad thing. Nappy hair meant you weren’t beautiful or desirable,” Nsenga Burton, professor of communications and media studies at Goucher College said. Ho is slang for prostitute. It originated in the 1960s representing a dialect pronunciation of whore (3). With Imus’s words, he stripped a basketball team of their beauty and pride. He stripped a culture and a sex of integrity. He stripped a society of respect. Phrases such as “nappy-headed hos” demean the human race and suppress society. A group will become what one tells them they are. A teacher tells a child so many times he is stupid; the child will perform as if he is stupid. A society tells a black woman so many times she is ugly and unwholesome; she will feel as if she is ugly and unwholesome. This is the cost of free speech. As pricey as it may be, I pay.
Sources:
(1) http://mediamatters.org/items/200704040011
(2) http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/12/national/main2675273.shtml
(3) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18081301/
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I read elen's blog and it shared a lot of characteristics with yours. Viacom, a music company controlling MTV and BET, are going to ban the words "ho," "bitch," and "nigger" from any song that is produced and aired by the company. The argument here is that these words demoralize women and African-Americans; the words "nappy headed hos" fall into that very same category. The nature of these words closely resemble hate speech, but since CBS is private they have the power to punish him for his crime. Firing Imus for his speech is a form of subsequent punishment, so it becomes unclear if firing him is CBS's way of protecting their private entity or if firing him is infringing upon his 1st Amendment right.
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