Rihanna's statement about African hair

Rihanna, at the 41st American Music Awards, November 24, 2013
(Credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)


Rihanna's style should please the administrators at Vanessa VanDyke's school.


Vanessa VanDyke, another young African-American woman, prefers natural African hair: See Christian school orders girl to "style" her African hair.

See all posts re African hair.

The politics of Rihanna’s hair: Her AMA do was a powerful form of resistance
In an award show celebrating the co-optation of black musical forms, a star's hairstyle was an important statement
Brittney Cooper
Salon
Nov 26, 2013

Two nights ago, my mouth fell open, when I looked up to see Rihanna rocking a doobie at the American Music Awards.

What’s a doobie? In the South, we just call it a wrap. It is a particular way that black women with straightened hair style their hair by combing and brushing it around the base and crown of the head before bed in order to maintain the style for the next day.

During the 10 years that I wore a relaxer, wrapping my hair and securing the wrap (or doobie) with a scarf or bobby pins or a combination of the two was a nightly ritual. But what you never did — with any level of propriety anyway — was wear your wrap out in public.

I mean, sure, you could get away with it on a quick run to the corner store. But in general, once the hair is wrapped, you are in for the night and the style is not for public consumption.

So when Rihanna showed up at the AMAs rocking just such a style, but adorned with fancy bejeweled bobby pins, I registered it immediately as ratchetness.

Ratchet, because it wreaks of impropriety, and rejects the unstated rules of black women’s hair. There are certain things that black women don’t do out in public regarding hair: We don’t wear rollers outside (that is the ultimate act of ratchet-ghetto behavior), we don’t wear doobies outside, and we don’t wear ratty headscarves outside. If you do don a headscarf, you better tie it up in an intricate way and make it look Afrocentric – “cultural,” you know.

Rihanna took no such pains with her appearance, defying all the rules at this year’s awards. I promptly wondered what it meant. She very well knows that black girls know that a doobie ain’t a style – it’s a pre-style, no matter how pretty the bobby pins are that you put in it.

If you don’t unwrap your hair, then basically you have made very little effort to get all donned up for the show. Exposing people to your doobie either means you know them very well, or know them so little that you couldn’t care less what they think.

The scholar in me is tempted to read this homage to ratchetry as a kind of subtle resistance to the pomp and circumstance of these awards. I feel emboldened in that reading by the blatant whitewashing of black culture that went on at the AMAs.

The AMAs haven’t been particularly good on this point in a long time, which is why it is not one of the major shows that I watch. But last night, Justin Timberlake won for best soul/R&B album in a category that featured him, Robin Thicke and Rihanna, and Macklemore won for best hip-hop album, just as he did at the VMAs.

When Sarah Silverman made a quip about the category being dominated by two white guys and a Caribbean artist, Justin, upon winning, remarked that Silverman’s remarks constituted the first time that he had ever felt “racially profiled.”

Race analysis #FAIL, JT. Please don’t make it hard for me to like your music. It’s already hard to admit I like it, since your musical career has relied on the appropriation of a black sound and the requisite awarding of cookies because you are a white boy who does it well...

Read more HERE.

Christian school orders girl to "style" her natural hair to appease bullies

Nov. 30, 2013: Is Rihanna's style what administrators really want?



See all posts re African hair.

When bullies at a Christian school acted up, the administrators decided to order the target to get rid of her naturally puffy African hair. After all, if students see African hair growing naturally, it's to be expected that they would be inspired to bad behavior, right? The administrators decided that the problem God created needed to be fixed by concealing God's handiwork. These geniuses figured this would be more reasonable than giving students a lesson on Christian virtues, civil rights, or the simple common sense of accepting the reality of biological differences among human beings.

My advice to Vanessa: don't fix it because it ain't broke. And learn from the experience you're living. Perhaps there's another Christian school nearby that has administrators whom God gifted with functioning frontal lobes.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to figure out how Vanessa is supposed to "style" her hair, since administrators claim they aren't requiring that she cut her hair or use chemical products. I think that's exactly what they intended, but they're backtracking now.

How can she limit the volume of her hair without chemicals or scissors? Even if she braided her hair, the shorter hairs, and the hair on the top of her head, would escape and puff out. Cornrows would be a solution, but I doubt that's what the school has in mind, especially since they would have to require all students to wear cornrows in order not to specifically target African hair.

I'm getting a kick out of picturing all the classrooms, with every child wearing cornrows. Blond cornrows, brown cornrows, red cornrows, black cornrows. It's actually kind of a beautiful picture, isn't it?


Is this the solution this school needs?


Also, see my plan for voluntary separation of pedophiles.


UPDATE: ADMINISTRATORS CHANGE THEIR MINDS

Girl Who Faced Expulsion Over Natural Hair Gets To Stay At Private School
Nov 27, 2013
By Ruth Manuel-Logan
News One

On Monday, 12-year-old Vanessa VanDyke (pictured), who attends Faith Christian Academy in Central Florida, was faced with quite a dilemma.

School officials allegedly mandated that she restyle her natural hair or be expelled for a week. But, just one day after the bizarre request got national media attention, the edict was suddenly rescinded and Vanessa now gets to remain in school with her crowning glory as is, according to WKMG Local 6.

Vanessa has attended the private school for three years and had never experienced any bullying over her hairstyle until now. When Vanessa’s mom, Sabrina Kent, approached school officials over her daughter being taunted by classmates because her hair was not straight, they thought it would be in her best interest to straighten it.

The tween, who loves the texture of her hair, talked to Local 6 about her choice of hairstyle. “It says that I’m unique,” Vanessa said. “First of all, it’s puffy and I like it that way. I know people will tease me about it because it’s not straight. I don’t fit in.”

Kent told the news outlet that the school’s threat of expulsion over her daughter’s hair was not a solution to her daughter being bullied. “There have been people teasing her about her hair, and it seems to me that they’re blaming her,” Kent laments. According to the miffed mom, school officials allegedly informed her that Vanessa’s hair was a “distraction.”

The academy does have a dress code in place which also loops in how students can wear their hair. “Hair must be a natural color and must not be a distraction,” and the stipulations include, but are not limited to, mohawks, shaved designs and rat tails.

Despite the school’s strict dress codes, Kent is standing firm that her daughter’s hairstyle will not change. “I’m going to fight for my daughter,” Kent said. “If she wants her hair like that, she will keep her hair like that. There are people out there who may think that natural hair is not appropriate. She is beautiful the way she is.”

Faith Christian Academy officials released a statement on Tuesday regarding the hair-raising issue:

“We’re not asking her to put products in her hair or cut her hair. We’re asking her to style her hair within the guidelines according to the school handbook.”

[Maura Larkins' comment: I'm trying to figure this out. It seems they're saying that she needs to wear braids. But shouldn't all students be required to wear braids if that's what the school wants?]

Meanwhile, Vanessa and her mom will be lining up strategies over the Thanksgiving holiday just in case.

[Read more HERE.]


ORIGINAL POST:

African-American girl faces expulsion over 'natural hair'
by Ole Texan
Daily Kos member
Nov 27, 2013

An African-American teen says she faces expulsion because administrators at her private school want her to cut and shape her hair.

Vanessa VanDyke said she was given one week to decide to whether cut her hair or leave Faith Christian Academy in Orlando, a school she's been going to since the third grade.

Whoa!! This was my first reaction after reading this article. And don`t ask me why. I have trouble remembering when it was a time that I saw such beautiful hair on a teenager. Being the state of Florida giving this lovely girl one week to decide to whether cut her hair or leave Faith Christian Academy in Orlando, a school she's been going to since the third grade is not surprising to me.

But for now, she and her mother do not plan to change her hair because it is part of the 12-year-old's identity. But her natural hair style comes with a cost.

"It says that I'm unique," said VanDyke. "First of all, it's puffy and I like it that way. I know people will tease me about it because it's not straight. I don't fit in."

VanDyke said that first the teasing from other students, but now, school leaders seem to be singling her out for her appearance.

Faith Christian Academy has a dress code and rules against how students can wear their hair. The student handbook reads:

"Hair must be a natural color and must not be a distraction," and goes on to state examples that include, but are not limited to, mohawks, shaved designs and rat tails.

"A distraction to one person is not a distraction to another," said VanDyke's mother, Sabrina Kent. "You can have a kid come in with pimples on his face. Are you going to call that a distraction?"

Interestinly enough, Vanessa had her large, natural hair all year long, but it only became an issue after the family complained about students teasing her about her hair. Teasings escalated from obvious taunts into bullying from those whom I think were more envious of such beauty and not on account of distraction.

"I'm depressed about leaving my friends and people that I've known for a while, but I'd rather have that than the principals and administrators picking on me and saying that I should change my hair," said VanDyke.

It is sad, but highly commended that this teenager take a stand and fight for her principles, her right to be, and self determination to keep her hair. It is undisputable that Vanessa`s hair is her natural hair and is not tainted with hair dyes. Or at least it is not alleged by the Academy.

"I'm going to fight for my daughter," Kent said. "If she wants her hair like that, she will keep her hair like that. There are people out there who may think that natural hair is not appropriate. She is beautiful the way she is."

School administrators responded to an email asking about the issue, but did not provide any answers to questions. And I have to wonder why.

Warning to racists: don't take a DNA test unless you're ready for the truth; white supremacist Craig Cobb wasn't ready

Craig Cobb

If your family has lived in this country for a long time, especially in the South, there's a real chance that you have some African or Native American ancestors, no matter how white your skin is. At the same time, African-Americans are frequently surprised to learn how much white ancestry they have.

Craig Cobb deluded himself about the reality of racial mixing, and now he's a fish out of water in the supremacist community he himself created. I guess no one ever taught him how to deal with the ambiguities and uncertainties of this world. If he had any sense at all, he would have known it was time to change his tune, not turn up the volume.

In contrast, the descendants of Thomas Jefferson who had believed for generations that they were entirely white, then a few years ago found out that they were descended from Sally Hemmings, readily embraced their black ancestor.

Feud tied to DNA test of supremacist's black blood
Doug Stanglin
USA TODAY
November 21, 2013

The recent arrest of neo-Nazi Craig Cobb, who wants to turn a small North Dakota town all-white, was apparently sparked by a feud with a fellow supremacist who turned on him when DNA tests showed Cobb to be part black, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Cobb, 62, was arrested Saturday along with a fellow neo-Nazi for allegedly threatening citizens while going on "patrol" with weapons in Leith, N.D. (population:16).

Cobb and Kynan Dutton, 29, are each charged with seven counts of terrorizing residents, five of the counts involving guns. The pair could face 10 to 35 years in prison if convicted on all counts.

The latest twist in the story comes as Tom Metzger, founder of the White Aryan Resistance, tells the Associated Press he disagrees with Cobb's high-profile antics and is returning property in Leith that Cobb had deeded to him.

Cobb, a hate crimes fugitive from Canada with a long history of association with hate groups and white separatist believers, quietly began buying up local property months ago in a bid to take control of the town council and make Leith an all-white community.

Grant County records show that Cobb, who has purchased 13 lots, has since transferred ownership of two lots: one to Metzger, who is also a former grand dragon of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in California, and another to Alex Linder, originator of the Vanguard News Network, a white supremacist website, according to the civil rights group Southern Poverty Law Center.

Leith, with a population of 16, is located 51 miles southwest of Bismarck.

"The way he does business is not the way I do business," said Metzger, who tells the AP that he still considers Cobb a friend. "I think people should move into communities as regular people and become part of the community, and not necessarily declare their racist views."

"His view was to come into town like a brass band. I disagreed with that," he said.

In a text message to the Tribune before he was taken into custody on Saturday afternoon, Cobb said, "Because of the many violences (sic) and harassments against we (sic) and the children, we have commenced armed patrols of Leith." In a follow up text, Cobb said he has new plans to name some of his property the "Adolph Hitler Pvt. Park of Leith."

The violence, however, apparently was traced back to another white supremacist who had a falling out with Cobb, the Times reports.

Grant County Assistant State's Atty. Todd Schwarz tells the newspaper that a fellow supremacist apparently targeted Cobb with racial graffiti after he'd found out that Cobb's DNA results showed he was part black.

"The individual in question was interviewed, and when his interview answers weren't matching up, he essentially admitted it," Schwarz, who declined to name the persons, told the Times. "The one that tipped it off -- he painted on the house, 'BACK IN BLACK,' and he's not an AC/DC fan."

Cobb gained national attention recently when he appeared on the Trisha Goddard Show's "Race in America" series and agreed to undergo DNA testing. The results showed he is 14% sub-Saharan African and 86% European. Cobb rejected the results as "short science" and "statistical noise".

Schwarz said the pair "had a falling out" on the day the DNA results became public. Schwarz said the unidentified man was "not real mentally stable" and left town the same day.

One of the two targets in Saturday's incident was Leith City Councilman Lee Cook, who alleged that the pair came to the end of his property with a gun and that Dutton had his finger on the rifle trigger, the Bismarck Tribune reports.

Both Cook and Bruce, who has been posting updates about the neo-Nazi activities in the town on Leithnd.com website, called 911, the Tribune reports.

Contributing: Associated Press