Someone needs to publish a list of these things. I’d never even heard the term “nappy headed” before that Imus hooplah and would have had no idea it was offensive. It seems like basketball would be just as offensive as watermelon because I see a lot more black guys playing basketball than I see eating watermelon.
As I read this, I realize it sounds like I’m a racist trying to stir things up. But I’m honestly clueless about this stuff.
“As I read this, I realize it sounds like I’m a racist trying to stir things up. But I’m honestly clueless about this stuff.”
It doesn’t sound racist to me. You seem quite sincere as this IS kind of a regional Southern thing.
I have heard the terms “nappy head” and “nappy headed” all my life. It was quite common when I was a kid to hear black kids insulting each other with that usage during arguments. It sounds silly but for most of my youth I thought “nappy headed” people were the black kids whose hair was not trimmed evenly. The black kids who were neatly groomed used it as an insult to those who weren’t, similar to the way the white kids would call unkempt peers with dirty hair “greasy headed”.
Another common insult was “ashy”. We all lose dead skin but it doesn’t show on whites the way it does on blacks so they use lotion. Those who didn’t were referred to as “ashy” by their peers because the dry dead skin resembled ash.
Kids can be cruel, can’t they?
I meant to add that, right now, there is a popular black-owned hair salon in Vicksburg, MS named “Nappy Roots”.
Food for thought.