"Nappy Headed Hos", The continuing Black image in the media

"Nappy Headed Hos" refers to the statement made by radio personality Don Imus about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball team. Without going into further detail, this comment reiterates the constant image of Black people being ugly, uneducated, undignified, and just basically primitive.

White people have degraded the image of people of African decent since slavery times. First as a means to condone the international institution of slavery, then after the American Civil War to help keep blacks subservient and whites continually afraid of Blacks, and finally up until the present to continually present us as being unable to succeed in modern society.

Today we have a situation where entertainers of African decent, which also include latinos, create music and visual works which either degrade or present us as ignorant and narrow minded. Is it so surprising that with rap videos as well as films glorifying thug life and hypersexual women, we have radio personalities feeling comfortable enough to call us "Nappy Headed Hos"?

What should we do as artists, musicians, filmmakers, and individual citizens to change OUR view in mainstream society? This is the question of the new millenium!