“Nappy-headed” is perfectly acceptable speech. Here’s a link to a movie called “Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People.”
“Hos” is a slang term for women (its specific meaning is prostitute but it has a general meaning for women and all people that is not necessarily derogatory) that I think originated among inner-city blacks and then was spread to the general culture through rap (primarily black) music.
So why is Imus having his head handed to him for this?
If a black had called the Rutgers girls basketball team “nappy-headed hos” would there be such an outcry? Nope.
I suppose the reason for the backlash against Imus is that he has a history of making derogatory remarks about blacks (and almost every other group). Given this history, I guess I can understand MSNBC dropping his show.
I don’t believe his remarks in this instance justify such an assault (though I think Imus is loathsome and it is no loss to America that he no longer has a nationally syndicated radio show).
I’m trying to remember when this country had less free speech than it does today. I’m thinking World War II.
One can’t even joke in polite company about wife-beating or child-abuse without people getting all bent out shape. It’s enough to make a man want to hit a woman.
Free speech is about more than just government regulations. It is about a commitment that all of should make to allowing people a fair go to speak their mind (unless such speech calls for criminal violence, then it deserves censure). If someone such as Don Imus is going to have his life ruined for using such shock humor, then people have their priorities wrong.
Al Sharpton has led the charge against Imus. He warns: “‘It is our feeling that this is only the beginning. We must have a broad discussion on what is permitted and not permitted in terms of the airwaves…”
Great, this from the guy who led 15 yo Tawana Brawley’s campaign to claim that she was raped by six white men. It turned out she had suffered no such sexual assault.
It is precisely that sort of speech by Sharpton making false rape charges that deserves 100 times the censure of Imus’s remarks about “nappy-headed hos.”
Until this Time magazine piece, all the commentators I read took it for granted that Imus did something horrible.
That’s nonsense. He did something tasteless, no more offensive than numerous other things said on network radio and TV every day. Has anybody listened to rap music lately?
Treating blacks as fragile creatures who are deeply wounded by such stupid remarks is doing nobody any favors.
Read what CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said when he announced the cancellation of Imus’s radio show. "There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society. That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."
In other words, he’s saying that poor fragile blacks need the white man’s benevolent protection so they never hear anything that might damage their self-esteem.
I have a Jewish friend on the right who, in private, refers to some Jews on the left “kikes.” Big deal.
