Nappy or Straight -- Does It Really Matter? Part 1

This post falls under the category of re-Africanizing black education. What does black education have to do with hair? Quite simply, we need to study our hair. Your hair is a major part of your identity. It makes all sorts of statements about how you feel about yourself. Because so much can be said about this, looking at it from so many different angles, let's just look at the nappy or straight issue.



The first thing we need to look at is why nappy or straight is an issue. The answer to this question can be summed up in one word -- Slavery. Slave holders had to ensure that black people would not organize rebellion among themselves. The best way to do this was through divide and conquer -- pitting slave against slave. Through massive rapes of black women, the resulting children were lighter in skin color with finer textured hair and aryan features. Those who looked closer to being white were valued more and treated a little better, especially if they were willing to cooperate with the plantation system.

There are many scholars who talk about the systematic destruction of black unity. One of the best descriptions of this is in The Willie Lynch Letter And The Making of A Slave. When you read this very short, but poignant book, you will nod your head in agreement with what you know to be true of the black community today. It will help you to connect the hidden dots that link together the legacies of slavery with your present reality.

During slavery, in general, the darker you were, the more kinky your hair, the more African features you had, the worse you were treated. For women, the humiliations were unbearable -- the rapes, the forced breeding, the name calling, the dehumanizing tasks they were forced to do. You saw some of these things in movies from the seventies like A Woman Called Moses.

There is a scene in this movie when Harriet is talking to her husband. He's scared and feeling desperate thinking he will not be able to get his freedom papers renewed and he takes it out on her, attempting to humiliate her. Cicely Tyson, who plays Harriet Tubman makes this incredibly expressive movement. I've seen this among black women often. She does this shrug and adjusts her ragged clothes. Her hair is tied with another rag. The movement says, "I know how I look, but this is the best that I can do. Yeah, your words hurt, but I am not going to let them kill me." It's a movement that preserves dignity.

Black women have suffered so much humiliation and African hair was a major target for creating shame in black women. Jiggaboo, nappy-headed, Aunt Jemima -- you know the names. Perhaps the worst of it all was the pervasive, ubiquitous images of black women smiling, skinnin' and grinnin' as if they liked it. These were masks that our ancestors had to wear just to save their lives, the lives or family members, or save someone from being sold off.

When you start connecting those dots, you may find that black women are still wearing the mask and for similar reasons -- survival. It's called, "Playing the game." To earn a living, you straighten your hair and you adopt European standards of beauty. I guess a lot of Sistahs who go natural feel like they are removing that mask and the gross humiliations that lie beneath it.

The controversy starts when we judge one another -- nappy or straight. This judgment only serves to keep us divided, much to the benefit of the dominant society. Don't you think that this time and energy could be better spent on trying to figure out how we can keep our children from killing one another?