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 Originally Posted by MadMojoMonkey
Shit, that one sports commentator lost his job because he called a black woman, "nappy headed," which literally means, "tightly curled hair," which I'm fairly certain applies to most black people and some non-black as well. Thing is, that "nappy headed" is used relatively interchangeably in black culture with "nigga," so any use by a non-black is deemed racist.
Are you referring to Imus? He's not strictly a sports commentator, so I'm wondering if you're thinking of someone else.
In Imus' case it wasn't just "nappy headed". He also called them "ho's". And the entire context of his comments could only be interpreted as a white man, co-opting black vernacular in an attempt to mock and denigrate a group of women because of their gender and ethnicity.
It was pretty bad.
If you listen to the exchange, Imus was clearly "joking". There wasn't any hate, or malicious intent. It was just insensitive. His usage of black phrasing seems to be similar to what's being discussed here, for example, when white people say "what's up my n...." to each other. However, it still offended people, and there's a lesson in that.
Even if you don't think you're being racist when you use that word, someone else might think you are. And with that particular word, it's likely that someone will take offense. So just don't use it.
Of course, there are contexts where white people can say it. Leo DiCaprio gets a pass for saying it in Django. Artistic authenticity (term I just made up) demanded it. Similarly, if you're a voice actor hired to record "To Kill a Mockingbird" as an audio book.....the word is gonna come up. Mostly though, even in factual, intellectually-based conversations, it's just as easy to substitute the term "n word" without hurting your argument or distracting from whatever point you're trying to make.
Kinda surprised this debate went all weekend guys. Is the horse dead yet?
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