Is "nappy-headed" racist?

[Archae]

Just wondering, it was racist as Don Imus used it, but Stevie Wonder used "nappy-headed little boy" to describe himself in the song "I Wish."

[trof]

1. yep

And kinky headed.

[Bucky]

2. Thanks. I was just starting to miss all the fun we had with the Imus threads.

Oh wait, I'm lying about that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. Obviously Stevie Wonder is a white supremacist.

Just like Clayton Bigsby.

[sniffa]

4. just speaking from my childhood

nappy-headed was used often - sometimes to rip on someone, or sometimes as self-deprecation. approaching high-school and during high-school, the negative connotation was dropped and the term was used with pride.

and every time i hear the term now (ie: AI) i can't help but think of a line from Icecube:

Nappy headed n***a with the bone through his nose
Nappy headed n***a with a bone for your h**s

and that was a sniffa random thought.

[redqueen]

5. BEANERS!

Shush. I'm not a racist... I'm writing a song. That's the first line.

What do you think?

[Indi Guy]

8. It's already been done by Tommy Chong n/t

[redqueen]

10. Dammit.

x(

[VenusRising]

6. Imus went beyond nappy-headed.

He went so far as calling them hos in conjunctions with nappy-headed making it both racist and misogynistic.

[redqueen]

11. Yup.

Words can be racist or not racist depending on CONTEXT.

Not so much of a complex issue for me...

[ThomCat]

7. If some straight person calls me a fag it's homophobic.

If one of my ex-boyfriends does, it's probably a term of endearment. And if I call myself a fag for some reason (doubtful) then it's probably got some other meaning all together.

:shrug:

I've referred to myself as a cripple on occassions when I'm particularly frustrated. But the same thing applies there. I'd accept it from someone else who's seriously disabled, but probably not from someone who isn't.

[MissMillie]

12. absolutely

the same word said by two different people can have different power.

[KG]

9. context is important

[Schema Thing]

13. Not normally

put "ho'es" after it though, and be specifically speaking about black women who are, in fact, most certainly not whores (or even women whose fame or infamy derives from sexuality), and yeah, it's racist.