Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
People treated me different once I had braids—even black people. Back then, I was a member of a youth group for gifted young black men in the city of Cleveland, but once I had my hair braided, I was promptly asked to either cut it, get it straightened like a white man, or quit the group altogether. I was told again and again by black adults that prominent historically black universities like Hampton's business school had banned all students with dreads and braids from even enrolling. These older brothers and sisters made sure that I knew that natural hairstyles like braids and dreads were not for black men who wanted to be a success in this country. According to them, braids and dreads didn't belong in the boardroom, or the courthouse, or the university… But a Jheri curl did?It was reckoning with this negrophobia over natural hairstyles from within the black community that I realized how radical braids and dreads still are. The truth is that black men in America didn't start proudly wearing braids and dreads until the late 60s and 70s, thanks to the swag of artists like Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley. And even those guys, people who embody the Afrocentric spirit, went through a process where they decided to embrace these aesthetics. You can easily find pictures of a young Bob Marley and Stevie Wonder in traditional suits and conservative haircuts. They made a choice, before it was fashionable, to explore their roots through their hair back. And right now, in a lot if ways, millennials like me are still on that journey, trying to come to terms with our African-ness in a country that has been historically hostile to that identity.Considering how easily so much has been taken away from black people and the fact that we're still on a journey to define ourselves within this country, I don't think it's surprising at all that we'd be possessive over our culture. When we see an Instagram of Bieber with his new look or catch a goofy dude walking down the street in locks, we feel like we have to make a fuss. If we don't, we wonder what will the magazine articles, and TV broadcast specials, and textbooks say a hundred years from now. Will they read "Justin Bieber Was the King, Emperor, Creator, Discoverer, Lord of Dreadlocks"? I certainly hope not.Follow Wilbert on Twitter.We just don't wanna see white people rocking dreads today, because we know that they will be telling us that they invented them tomorrow.