I’ve wondered the same. I never knew it. I’m from Jackson, Mississippi, and I’ve heard the term most of my life, but I”ve never associated it with race. I must be ignorant. We have a daughter whose hair is so curly that she can’t brush it. After a few days of not brushing, we call it “nappy.” I guess we will have to change our description. I can say that no one would look at her and call her a “ho” though. Dork, yes. Ho, no.
The same daughter rode the bus to school last year, and she had a lot of trouble with one student on the bus. She would skip school and/or miss the bus on purpose because of the student. The girl would berate our daughter because she has/had long VERY curly hair that could only be the result of having black genetics. (the girl on the bus was black.) She threatened to cut our daughter’s hair one day. There was another student in our daughter’s class who also made a big deal about our daughter’s kinky hair. She would also say things about our genetics. It was not said in a nice way either. Our daughter is a nervous dork, and she took it all in stride. But the manner in which these girls spoke to her did eat at her.
I guess my whole point is that nappy-hair is assumed by black people to refer to black people. Never mind that other races have people with nappy-hair, too.
It is interesting. My heritage is Sicilian and most of us have what would be described as nappy hair, even those who are blond. It is is strange indeed.
As far as teasing, I used to get teased because my died when I was eleven.
I'm sorry your daughter was terrorized by thugs. I've seen that low-class behavior all my life, directed at me for being "smart", and at other females for being "smart" or having hair that was too straight. It's disgusting and needs to be crushed.