| Different subcultures in America express things that are quite different with the same words. "Nappy headed ho" coming from a white person towards a black girl is loaded with Jim Crow looking down his nose at black women, defining the entire black female sex as prostitutes. The same type of remarks directed amongst black people is supposed to be expressions of solidarity among a suffering class. One must remember, for centuries white people claimed a legal right to rape, torture and murder these people based upon the idea they are an inferior race. Any type of public move to define them as inferior is frightening for them in a way white people either do not understand or that they discount. Mr. Imus crossed the line into that area of our national experience that is still an open sore. |