hair...

i found this pic online today and supposedly this boy's question to our new president was "can i touch your hair to see if it feels like mine?". how adorable!!!! there's so much symbolism behind that statement and i'm not sure if that tugs on the heart strings of black people alone but i would like to think that most minorities (i hate that term so scratch that), most "rich cultures who were previously oppressed" can relate to the desire for their leaders, mentors, idols to share some similarities with themselves. it's nice to look to someone you believe is great in any respect and feel like "wow, we share this bond, i can be just like him/her" even if that bond is as trivial as hair texture, skin color, weight, sexual orientation, etc.

ok, so this is a bit off mark but looking at the picture also called to mind the importance of hair to black people in general. this is an issue i've been wanting to comment on for some time as my girlfriends and i regularly have this discussion amongst ourselves. if you don't already know most black americans (at least the ones i've encountered during my 27 years of life) take issue with the texture of hair they have and sometimes the hair texture of their friends, family members or partners as well. i believe this stems from the good old "house nigger/field nigger syndrome" (that is the blatant use of racist psychology implemented and perpetuated by willie lynch in which a slave master would separate the darker-skinned African slaves from the lighter-skinned ones to create and sustain tensions and deteriorate the unity between slaves and further scar the psyches of those slaves descendants)*sorry that was a lot but i felt like a full definition was in order. lol!
anywho, the lighter skinned slaves were usually lighter as a result of being the slave master's offspring so, naturally their hair would be a different texture from the full-blooded African slaves. So, subconsciously the "field niggers" aka the ones who lived in the field were put in a position of inferiority and the "house nigger" became the symbol for the unattainable or the "slaves american dream" because the slaves got to share in some of the amenities afforded to the masters i.e., living in a warm house with a bed, no cotton picking aka no sunburn, bleeding hands, achy muscles, etc.) and were generally cared for in a slightly better manner than the rest.



even though we have evolved a bit as a culture in fashion, politics, racism, etc. we have yet to shed most of the psychologic damage inflicted on our ancestors that was taught and re-taught to us through the media and even from our own families. dark-skinned people all over the world are treated different from light-skinned people and us black americans are no better.

we decipher "good" from "bad" hair by measuring the straightness of one's hair texture, the looseness of curls... black women still punish themselves for not being light enough or not having silky hair... and i think its all a crock of shit. and while i've fallen prey too (i kept my hair long throughout my childhood and teenage years for the fear that that's all i had to make me stand apart) personally, i think its super lame to feel bad about something you have no control over. to choose your babies father based on what kind of hair he grows so you can ensure your children aren't born with kinky hair is just dumb. and maybe if people chose their mates based on more substantial qualities we wouldn't have so many fucked up pretty people in the world today, aha!



seriously tho, kinky hair is the strongest, most durable, most flexible, adaptable hair known to man. i press my hair once a week and it stills curls up when wash it. thank God for that. i can wear my hair any way i want without half of the damage experienced by most. maybe there's some crazy reason we were blessed with this kind of hair. what if life is like m. night shyamalan's "lady in the water" and this gift we were given is gonna somehow help to save the world and we're over here texturizing and relaxing it, lol? i'm totally reaching and there's absolutely no judgement goin on in regards to what you like to do with what you got but i just pray that we can pause for a moment, unplug and reflect on how awesome we are as a culture and as humans/women/mothers/fathers/etc. and be thankful for the things that God has given us even if they don't fall in line with what u see on tv or in the magazines.