White Dread

Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 44 seconds.

I'm just so tired of reading the same old problematic arguments over and over. "black people steal blonde hair from white people" "Vikings had braids centuries ago".

#1 black people can be blonde or have red hair. Just because you *think* we are a monolith doesn't mean it's true.

#2 Are you a Viking? No? Okay, glad that's settled.

#3 the problem is not just that white people wear braids. I don't really give a **** how you do your hair. The black community's frustration with this trend, however, is a symptom of the injustice in our society at large.
The systemic issue with this is that white people are allowed, by other white people, to wear their hair in braids or dreads and they do *not* face racist discrimination as a result.
And please, nobody white tell me about how they didn't get hired at Starbucks* because they had locs. 

That  Does Not Negate Black Oppression!

The reason you didn't get hired at Starbucks might be because of your locs, but THAT is because Starbucks has discriminatory policies on "dress code". These are meant to exclude people of color, and are based in racist stereotypes which reinforce negative opinions about locs and other "black/brown" hairstyles. One example: locs are not clean because you can't wash them (completely false)

If you really want to be able to wear locs with no issue, maybe you should realize that's what the black and brown community wants for themselves. Instead our bodies are policed and if we don't have the right hair or the right clothes, we could die.

So instead of yelling at black/brown people about how YOU should be allowed to wear a hairstyle that we have been fighting to make acceptable for generations, maybe you should redirect your indignation at the people who make our society dangerous and unfriendly to black and brown bodies.

If you are white and haven't ever read about locking 4C hair (description of 4C hair coils here), take a look at this list of things a woman of color has to say about the process here.

*Using this as a generic corporate entity