Letters to the Editor
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Deering, Karen M, Domini, Juliebird: Tall poppy syndrome
Several commentators are making the point that the Rutgers basketball players were the opposite of hos/whores: accomplished, educated, goal-oriented, etc.
Exactly why they need to be cut down, in the eyes of Imus and his ilk!
It's tall-poppy syndrome. (And as these are basketball players, they are probably very tall poppies.) The taller the poppy grows, the more people try to cut it down.
Near as I can tell, this is a human universal, although doubtless abetted by racism and sexism in this instance.
So to answer the question, posed here by a few commentators, how much do black women need to accomplish to be respected, and not get called "nappy-headed hos"?
Answer: not more than Don Imus.