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| Angelina, learn to do Zahara's hair! |
The moderate-conservative Republican blogger writes about something we've all silently shaken our heads at: "It makes me genuinely angry when I am out in public and I see a white family that is raising a black child and the child's hair is a hot mess. I had this experience again [yesterday] while shopping with the Hot Little Number at a local jewelers. A white couple came into the store with a black daughter, probably age 10 or 11. Her hair was nappy, unkempt, uncombed and altogether terrible looking. A black family with any standard about personal appearance would NEVER allow their child in the street looking the way this young lady looked. Other black people observing such a child within a black family would regard them as trifling in the extreme for taking such poor care of the child's hair."
He continues his commentary: "I assume the white families I see like this love their children and want their children to of course look their best and always present their best face to the world. I also assume that as incredulous as it may seem, they simply don't know what or how to appropriately take care of a black child's hair and quite possibly live within a personal circle devoid of other black families who would be a resource to them in this regard or from which they would get a clue on the issue of hair care. You have to make that assumption when you see a black child out with their parents and their hair looks that atrocious, because there is no other way to reconcile it."
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| This Atlanta man learned to do his adopted daughter's hair |
More: "It makes me angry at the parents, because I feel like they don't have a good excuse not to know better. This is especially true where middle class and affluent white parents are concerned. You see other black people and their children. You can buy a magazine like Ebony or Essence and look at the pictures and see black women and girls with attractively styled hair. You can investigate how to get your child's hair taken care of appropriately.
There are white parents who have done this, so there is just not an excuse to be so neglectful in this area.
In some places, local stylists have taken a proactive approach to this issue and God bless them.
There are resources out there to consult. White parents who have CHOSEN to raise a black child have no excuse to not be educated on this front."
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| Smiling because her hair is done right |
Final thoughts: "Assuming this situation makes you feel the same way, how would you handle it, or if you did handle it, what did you do? I need a protocol, a way to broach this issue with total strangers in public where my window is probably 120 seconds or less. Because I just cannot bear to fail another black child growing up in a caring, loving but clueless white family in this way."
Booker Rising response: Although I'd bet money that Angelina Jolie is an
octoroon (I wish I could find that photo of her with her Creole-looking grandmother that I once came across), I still consider her a white woman. And yes,
she has gotten much heat from black folks for how often she lets her adopted daughter Zahara's hair go around looking a hot mess. Style it in Afro-puffs, braid or twist her hair, comb out her 'fro,
do something. That's why Zahara ain't ever smilin' in photos, 'cause she's thinkin', "Geez, Mommy, can you
please learn how to do my hair?"
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