The sports world has been blazing with excitement and praise for the American athletes in all of the sports in which they competed in in the recent Summer Games, held in London England. The sacrifice coupled with the will to win is both admirable and complex. Gabby Douglas received some of the vilest and misguided criticism for not what she did during the Olympics, but for what her hair looked like while competing.
This didn’t come from the Olympic judges or even someone as volatile as Rush Limbaugh or even Glenn Beck. This nonsense hails from a people that pride themselves on fighting for socioeconomic equality. Most non- white people that I’m acquainted with hadn’t heard these types of rumblings before. In particular they were absolutely surprised that such comments were being made about a child. My Facebook page was a hot bed for debate and I found myself having to bring clarity on an issue that shouldn’t have been one in the first place.
The natural question for most of my “white” friends was how could this be and what is the source of all this madness. Some of my friends of color were just as dumbfounded, but were afraid to draw the correct conclusion. As the sports critic I’m not in any shape, form or fashion afraid to call out the African American community at large for this residual hate which inconspicuously rears its ugly head at such an inopportune time. Most well educated people know that kinky hair has been the proverbial thorn in the side of many people of color.
Madison Avenue in New York has made gradual improvements on what is an acceptable beauty. That still hasn’t improved the healthy self- image that black women and black people at large should have as a whole. The 1970’s was the dawn of an era where many people said goodbye to the conk and hello to the natural. The natural revolution has made a distinct and noted comeback, but with less of a political stance. The elephant in the room is that many of the same black people that made fun of Gabby Douglas were the ones upset when Don Imus infamously uttered the words “nappy headed hoes” in reference to the women’s basketball team of Rutgers University. This is one of the few times where the double standards that most conservatives say we possess within the confines of race really exist.
Many national black columnists wrote about this but I believe they failed to clarify the entire history of Willie Lynch coupled with 19th and 20thcentury mainstream entertainment that planted the mainstream self- hate gene that many adults born in the 1970’s harbor to this very day. Of course this isn’t an excuse or an attempt to “blame the white man”.
This is about rightly dividing the truth. This is about holding accountable African American culture and a country at large that forgets where most of this cancerous behavior began in the first place. Kerri Strug, Dominique Dawes, Mary Lou Retton or any other female Olympic hero has never been this closely scrutinized because of hair. Did any of her teammates get the scolding that Gabby got for their hair style? I seem to recall McKayla Maroney, her white teammate wearing a ponytail as well.
Now that we’re years removed from some of these images, it is up to those of us of sober and moral fiber to stand against ignorance within our own ranks just like we did in times past. So to quote India Arie, Gabby Douglas or any other person of color shouldn’t be defined by the texture of their hair. WE must define ourselves by the GOD given birthright predestined by a unique, mysterious and omnipresent being who saw fit to carve out our purpose like a great artist. Shame on those of sober and moral fiber to stand against ignorance within our own ranks just like we did in times past.
So to quote India Arie, Gabby Douglas or any other person of color shouldn’t be defined by the texture of their hair. WE must define ourselves by the GOD given birthright predestined by a unique, mysterious and omnipresent being who saw fit to carve out our purpose like a great artist. Shame on those of us who could state such statements that were cloaked in jokes, but reeking of self-hate and willful ignorance.
By the Sports Kritik @ http://tobtr.com/s/2110719
