Hello Meltingpot Readers,
Welcome to the first full week of Black History Month 2019. Over the years, I’ve had a lot to say about Black History Month and have tried to celebrate it in different ways. There were also years I wanted to boycott Black History Month, because I believed separating Black history from American history was detrimental to the cause of racial justice and equality. I still feel that way, but rather than boycott Black History, I’ve decided to use it as a launchpad for my latest campaign. Surprise, surprise, it’s all about Black hair politics.
I Declare War
I am declaring war on Black hair ignorance, starting now. After writing about the young, high school wrestler who got his dreadlocks hacked off during a wrestling meet, I felt so angry and incredulous that we were still witnessing these assaults on Black hair in the 21st century. But besides blogging about my frustration and giving a comment to a media outlet, I didn’t really do anything about it. I didn’t take any action to try to prevent such incidents from happening again. I was apolitical about Black hair politics.
I have always said, the way to progress as a society, as it relates to Black hair, is through education. So many people have no idea what hair means to Black people, nor do they know its powerful and dramatic history. If they did know, they wouldn’t make the same kinds of tone-deaf displays of discrimination, appropriation and violence against our crowning glory. (Or maybe they would, but we can’t worry about those people right now.)
It’s Time for Black Hair to be Free
So, I’m going to stop quietly suggesting that people educate themselves and read my book, Hair Story. Instead, I’m going to be very loud and aggressive about that suggestion. Every time an example of Black hair ignorance pops up in the news, I’m going to track down the Black hair offenders, and personally send them a copy of Hair Story and a list of Black hair resources they can use to decolonize their mind about our kinks, curls and coils. Resources like the new film Back to Natural and the biography of Madam C.J. Walker will definitely be on that list.
Sure, people might refuse to read the book. They might rip up my list of resources, but that’s not going to stop me from declaring my own personal war on Black hair ignorance. I may go broke sending out books, but I still feel compelled to make a commitment to doing something more meaningful in response to these egregious – and seemingly never ending – examples of hair discrimination. My words are my weapons and I plan to deploy them at every seditious act against Black hair. It’s 2019 and it’s high time as a society we got to the point where Black hair can truly be free.
Happy Black history Month 2019!
