Nappy headed hos

To tell you the truth, when the Don Imus story broke I could not even tell you what 'nappy headed ho' means. This new language that is fostered in the hip-hop and rap worlds doesn't intersect with my life in any way, shape or form (I am grateful!). It would appear that Don Imus must listen to too much hip-hop and rap music. For a radio personality to hear words from a portion of the culture around us and repeat them is almost unspeakable.

As insults go, this must be the supreme one. It is so powerful that the Rutgers team had no choice but to take it seriously. Now they must live in fear that they really are hos and it wasn't just unguarded words from a radio DJ who has probably said equivalent statements at least a hundred times. At least that is what I pick up from others.

As long as Don Imus was apologizing to every person of colored skin on the planet, I think he best get around to apologizing to white folk, such as myself. Otherwise those who are always color-mindful, might assume that all white folk consider this group of girls to be nappy headed hos. It has also been reported that a couple of players may even fall out of the definition of nappy headed because their hair is different. This will likely be changed.

We will never know, but I wonder if this would have ever been an issue if the Don Imus regular listeners were the only ones who heard this comment. As I understand it there was a media group that had hired a person to listen to every word that Don Imus said on air - always looking for the opportunity. When that person had the word, they had a list of 100 reporters to send the information to. With technology as it is in our country, we must remember that just because a story is on the evening news in every state, it does not mean it is a big story.

Enough for now, but there is more to be said.

Dennis