Quote:
Originally posted by allsmiles_22:
Like AKA2D'91 said "THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS GOING ON IN THIS WORLD". One cannot sit around and weigh the slavery affects of whether to perm or not to perm-that's a waste of time. We as black people got too much going on in life-THE HERE AND THE NOW-to worry about that.
If you want examples- our current political situation, the AIDS crisis in Africa, the rise of AIDS among your black women, the poverty in our black communities, the health problems of the black population, etc. These are some real issues that we need to address because this "bad white world" isn't.
My solution: We all just need to put our relaxed or permed heads together and find way to combat the pertinent problems at hand.
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My mentor at the firm I work w/ (she is one of 3 Black women, out of 70 attorneys--only 2 Black men...I am the only Black intern out of 110...This is supposed to be an affirmative action program--just some background for ya) recently gave me an article that she had to read when in law school 2 years ago. The article, taken from Duke Law Journal (I'll have to post the year and edition tomorrow, I left it at home) discussed the legal fights that Black women are going through. The issue at hand? The appropriateness, or the lack thereof, of Black hairstyles.
The article came w/ pictures and everything.Now I'm not talking about hair dyed red, black, and green--I'm talking about braids, weaves (nicely done-there is a difference), short/long perms, naturals, etc. The article discusses the many court cases in which Black women have had to alter their hair styles if they wanted to keep their job. In one instance, it was not found illegal for an employer to fire an employee because she had braids in. This ruling essentially set a legal precedent, dictating to Black women how they could wear their hair in the work place. To date, there has been no high court ruling to say otherwise. What does this mean? Your boss, can tell you how to do your 'do. That, is a pertinent issue...(God forbid they say perms aren't "Professional looking"
Admittedly, these women were working in non-white collar positions, which means they were working class. Now for those of us who have been so fortunate to have a lucrative position that allows us some semblance of freedom to wear our hair natural may not have it this bad. But the fact is that Black women, have been told BY THE LAW that their hair can be regulated by the government. What is the point? Well I think this would qualify as one of those "BIGGER, SERIOUS and more SUBSTANTIAL problems rather than the insignificant ones" that we need to focus on.
"Once we have established our position in society, then we can focus on how we look in it." Are we really so naive as to believe this? Ladies, (and Men) the legistlative branch of the GOVERNMENT, has upheld that Black women's hair can be dictated, and regulated. Essentially taking a piece of our body, isolating it from who we are as a people, and telling us what to do w/ it. Now if that doesn't sound like the master tippin' into the slave woman's hut, then I don't know what does.
And that IS something that needs to be focused on. Why make the subject of hair a taboo one, just because we tire of the issue? God forbid we tire of talking about some of the other issues we face like sexism in the Black community (or, should I say "start" talking about it...just a thought
). I fear the day that we stop talking about reparations, just because some of us have made it to the elite class, and don't want to be in the tax bracket of those who have to foot the bill; please don't let us stop talking about any of these issues.
The moment we do--Willie Lynch has won.
Who better, and what better time, than now for permed heads and natural heads to discuss this? Yes we need to keep talking about some other stuff too, like the fact that Pres Bush-it has cut funding for planned parenthood education to poor countries, The sexism in our community, the growing number of Black poor, even something as funny as "Ghetto Weddings"
. But just because the issue is uncomfortable, does not mean it is not worthwhile.