Quote Of The Day

"But is the observance that a group of black women have 'aggressively curly' (i.e. nappy) hair and choose not to straighten it necessarily some sort of racially-tinged insult? After all, most black men have the same sort of hair and choose not to straighten it also.

The thing is this. Imus's words for these women were couched in his opinions regarding the less-than-feminine demeanor of the members of this team; the adjective 'nappy-headed' was a part of that. Most black (American) women with nappy hair choose to straighten it, buy hair extensions to make it longer or to wear wigs that give the appearance of long straight hair.

These choices fall in line with the generally accepted standard of female beauty in America and in many other places (with Africa being the notable and pertinent exception).


When women who do not have naturally straight and/or rapid hair growth
choose not to buy into that standard--choose to set their own standard--often
their femininity and sexuality is questioned.....So I think that when Imus observed
the general rough, tough demeanor of the Rutgers team, the fact that many of these
girls don't straighten their hair was a part of that roughness and toughness in his subconscious mind.....I don't think it was racist; however, it was a cultural bias in favor of the prevailing standard of beauty, one to which many black men subscribe as well.

And, to drive home my point, it seems that it is the adjective 'nappy-headed' that is perceived in many quarters as the more insulting part of the phrase.....If I were one of the Rutgers players, I'd want to kick Imus's crusty, creaky a__ for the
unequivocally offensive epithet 'ho.' After all, Imus is implying that he has
some person knowledge of these girls' alleged 'ho-dom.'"


~ Juliette Ochieng, Republican blogger, on the controversy surrounding Don Imus