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Hair News - April 2007 |
| Author: Karen Marie Shelton |
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Date: April 2007 |
Friday
April 13, 2007
3,200 Year Old Hair From Pharaoh Ramses II
Discovered On Internet
It was recently reported that a French postman,
Jean-Michel Diebolt attempted to auction off 3,200 year
locks of hair from famous Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II
(who ruled from 1270 to 1213 B.C. and a reported
acquaintance of Moses) which was apparently stolen over
30 years ago in France.
Diebolt's late father was a French researcher who
examined the ancient mummy when it was shipped to France
in 1976 for treatment of a rare fungus.
Egyptian antiquities officials have been using the
Internet very successfully to look for ancient Egyptian
artifacts that may have been stolen from Egypt.
The internet was how the Egyptian officials found the
Ramses II locks of hair when it went up for sale on the
Internet for the bargain price of 2,000 Euros.
As a result of strong diplomatic relations between
Egypt and France the hair of Ramses was returned to
Egypt and the illegal owner Diebolt, is under
investigation for possessing stolen hair locks.
Friday
April 13, 2007
Nappy Hair Has Long History With Description Of
African-American Hair
Legendary radio personality Don Imus made a major
flaw when he referred on air to the females on the
Rutger's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos".
This public remark incensed legions of people and
resulted in his termination from his radio job.
Nappy when used to describe hair of people of African
descent has a long history of being extremely negative
and filled with pain and suffering. The nappy term
was often given to African slaves by their white people
who used the term negatively.
In the days of slavery European hair that was smooth,
straight and silky was considered superior to African
American hair which was usually very tightly textured,
curled, dense and black. During those years when
slavery was in force, whites would often use the word
nappy to describe black hair as inferior. The word
nappy took on a symbol of pain and insult. As
history shows, slaves were made to feel their hair was
naturally inferior to European or white hair and nappy
was linked with inferiority, loss of confidence and hard
core pain. Slaves were taught that they could
never be beautiful because of their hair and other
features and thus they could never achieve ideal beauty.
Even though African American people might be
accepting of another African American using the term
nappy to describe each others hair, it is not considered
politically correct for a non-African American to ever
use the term to refer to an African American even in
non-inflamed descriptive way. It is
considered a slam, a putdown and a obvious racially
linked slur.
While tacking on hos, which means a form of hooker or
prostitute was considered in poor taste, the key to the
fall of Don Imus was the hair related term of nappy.
Hair holds a lot of value and power for people with
regard to their self esteem and image. Don Imus
crossed many major lines which result in the major
backlash to his name, reputation and career.
One of the most ironic facts about the Don Imus/Rutger's
Basketball team fiasco is the fact the the majority of
the team's African American members have chemically
straightened hair which completely negated his
description of their hair as nappy further incensing the
world.
This showed that Don was using the term nappy as a
racial slur and not as a description of a hair type.
It spoke volumes about his attitudes towards African
American people and underlined that he was racist and
anti-female.
Anyone who underestimates how important hair is to
the world should learn a lesson for the fate of Don Imus
talking about hair.
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