Don Imus and Stokely Carmichael

I was listening to Michael Medved yesterday taking calls about the firing of Don Imus. One African-American caller said he was very uncomfortable with the word "nappy." He did not explain why. It occurred to me that the black power firebrand from the 1960s, Stokely Carmichael, used the word in his well-known formulation, "Our noses are broad, our lips are thick, our hair is nappy." He was trying to get American blacks to abandon white standards of beauty and embrace their own physical characteristics. Hence Afros instead of straightened hair, for example. Forty years later, though, his campaign does not seem to have completely succeeded, if the caller to Medved's show is typical.

Also, in the movie "Barbershop," the new competitor on the block is called "Nappy Cutz," if I recall correctly.

Posted by Finn MacCool