Raise Your Hand If You're A Nappy-Headed Hoe!

The point isn’t about whether or not you feel comfortable with that moniker being assigned to you. The point is the right to free speech, plain and simple. Who among us was even listening to Don Imus before the media hyped this issue up? He is a shock jock, addressing his market audience, giving them what they tune in to listen to. I think he’s a clown and he performs for other clowns. But I don’t think he should have been fired.

The Rutgers Basketball team, who I’m sure had never even heard of him or his show before their call from the media, chose to respond to something that should really have been ignored. I don’t fault the players, those girls were the epitome of grace, doing as they were told. I fault the coach, C. Vivian Stringer, who I knew had her own motives for participating in a media circus. I’ll come back to that.

First let’s review. Nappy-Headed-Ho. Let’s talk about the derivation of these hateful words, words that won’t be found in ordinary English language. The word hoe used in the misogynistic lyrics of some rap music, is slang and means whore or slut. Its origin can be traced to Harlem in the early 1970s, a period of unsettled adjustment for blacks and whites. During this time, the legal and permissible inequities of the employment arena, left blacks with limited opportunities to provide for themselves and their families. A significant number of women turned to prostitution, a business that black men also turned to as pimps.

With braggadocious pride, the black men in this business, referred to themselves as pimps, while in disgust and dismissal, they referred to the women they prostituted as hoes. Eventually these words were adopted into the black mainstream of ordinary citizens.

The word nappy has its roots in British history, its definition, a cloth diaper. During the slavery era in America (1619 – 1860), the word was adopted to describe the texture of black hair. No one can say for sure whether it was adopted by the slave owner or the slaves themselves. What is certain is the slaves continued the use of it and it has been carried on by blacks to describe the texture of black hair since.

It is a derogatory word that black people have “turned around” to dilute its hateful origins. Among black women it has been used humorously to describe hair that needs to be straightened or hair that is beautiful in its natural state. Nappy has also been adopted by some blacks as title to their products, such as a song, a book, or a salon.

But, as usual, the opportunists rared their ugly heads for the chance of having a little spotlight. Let’s not waste time talking about Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson continuing to advance their own self-interest wherever happenstance permits. And I’m not going to discuss the piping up of Oprah and Obama, two intelligent people who should have known better than to give in to the weigh-in pressure. I’d like you to turn your attention to the previously unknown woman outside of the college sports world, C. Vivian Stringer, head coach of the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team.

I’m willing to lay a hefty wager that the girls on that team, who were the “victims” of Imus’ “attack,” are not too happy with Coach Stringer for how she used them to advance her own self-interest back in April 2007. The news of Imus’ “attack” on the Rutgers’ team broke on April 6, 2007. Coach Stringer signed a book deal with Crown Publishing Group on April 19, 2007. Her autobiography is due out in March 2008. Hmmm… could a movie-making be in the works?

And yet, in the face of these kinds of controversy, so many people pop around like puppets, ignoring the REAL issues. The REAL issue is the fact that black people continue to battle their self-loathing, esteem challenges, embedded in their psyche since slavery. This self-loathing causes some black people to act out in hostility and menace towards one another, using words like bitches, hoes, nigger, nappy-headed, etc.

The REAL issue is that there’s an unspoken rule against white people using any of these words to describe black people, meanwhile black people can’t seem to find a way to stop the use of these words amongst themselves. The REAL issue is black people are divided on discouraging the use of these words.

The fact is free speech in this country is not and should not go away. No person or group has any right or rationale to stop anyone of us from saying what we want to say, regardless of their difficult history. The history of the world is this: survival of the fittest. The past is filled with countless races that were targeted with heinous acts against them, not just blacks.

For a lot of black people in this country, the REAL issue is white people, in their eyes, will NEVER be pardoned for the sins their white ancestors committed against the black ancestry as the world evolved and unfolded. THAT is why there will always be marches of protest and press conferences called whenever these situations develop.

Finally, the REAL issue is how easily we fall like dominoes when a hot-button topic flares up in the media-circus. The reality is we live in a capitalist society, where the bottom-line is our bottom-line. We’re all, myself included, just trying to sell our wares. As a result, sometimes, pawns (the girls on the basketball team) and scapegoats (Don Imus) are used. Who among us have not experienced the feeling of being a pawn or a scapegoat? It’s what makes the world go around.

So there it is. Pick your poison. You can play whatever role you like in these kinds of events. Do you want to make money? Have some spotlight? Have a pity-party? Or be entertained? The choice will be available to you at the next coming event.

On another note, name-calling and any reaction to it is soooo third grade.

Eyes wide open, icanseeclearlynow