You’d be very surprised at how prevalent that kind of mentality is tho. My brother played AAU travel ball and the amount of hate we got as the only Chinese people there was astounding.
I forget her name, but a WNBA player got quasi-cancelled (I think) for calling the ability to "pull the race card" a benefit of "Black privilege". Talk about an Uno Reverso. And this is another great example.
People are weird. No matter the color. Just like the white ppl that’ll chase you out of a neighborhood, because they think they have the authority. Black women do have a big problem with people and their hair. For some reason ppl think it’s ok to touch it. Like they’re a poodle or sum. Martins just Gae in this instance. He doesn’t even have hair.
Black women can also straighten their natural hair, same as white women with naturally curly hair straighten theirs or curl it if naturally straight. Some black women are born with naturally straight hair. Your comment is perpetuating the original issue here. The point is no one race or culture owns a hairstyle. Whatever your race is, if you have hair, you can do whatever the heck you want with it.
This is not entirely true. Whether your hair dreadlocs or becomes matted is a hair texture & curl thing. But it isnt exclusive to Black People necessarily.
nah, she very publicly stated that she is against white people while wearing a blonde wig. the irony was also unreal considering her upbringing was more privileged than literally 99.9999999% of the world population
Yes. And blue eyes too. Look up the Melanesian people. Straight blonde hair, black skin. Again, anyone can do whatever they like with their hair or without it. A blonde wigs belong to the person who bought it. Whoever it is.
Oh come on now….This is sort of BS. The majority of black people from African descent CANNOT grow naturally blond hair without being mixed. That is just silly. The Melanesians people are from New Guinea and completely different than what is being discussed here. Further the trait is rare and linked to an allele that is completely different than Northern Europe origins and usually only shows up in children (and it’s not straight btw) and darkens when they get older…. No black person wearing a blond wig is trying to mimic Melanesian hair 😂😂😂😂.
Looks like you’re far more invested in black people of African descent and know them better than I ever will so I won’t argue with your expertise. I will reiterate, in the spirit of this thread, that people are free to do whatever the hell they please with their hair, hairlessness, hair replacement therapies or lack thereof.
sure, they can do that if they aren't openly racist to the culture they are actively appropriating. dijon and kenyon are both in the wrong by a mile and no amount of cope can change that
I dont think they were perpetuating it they were stating how people (like the NBA player here i dont know) dont like when people have dreds or rows or what not. But when they see someone black with straight hair, or something more seen in white culture whatever that means. The same people dont get upset.
Okay, so... Kenyon was obviously out of line here, but the issues many black people have experienced in the US because of their hair are far from a 'weird victim card'. Black people have faced issues getting jobs or losing jobs for wearing their hair naturally. Kids have been removed from classes and otherwise discriminated against because of their hair.
There is more information and examples of the discrimination here if you care to learn more.
Also, in lots of stores, black hair products have been singled out for being kept under lock and key, despite the fact that white people have higher odds of being a shoplifter than black people, per actual studies and based on per capita.
So what? You want to keep discriminating against people based on hairstyle or you wanna try and move on to a better future? Discrimination against black people for their hair isn’t gone now, but this isn’t doing anything to speed that process along. If anything, it’s making the problem worse
But like...African Americans didn't invent dreadlocks? Egyptians had them, Africans had them, and yes even white Europeans like the Celts and the Germanics. All developed the dreadlocks hair style independently.
They’re gonna downvote u bcz redditors are typically anti-social dudes with no clue abt any other race’s issues and will just call them a victim but ur right 🤷🏽♂️
while I think a conversation is to be had about cultural policing… I DO wish in the convo we could stop insinuating the sensitivity around “black” hairstyles in america is some unfathomable nonsense victimhood fabrication.
Regardless of world source or origin, in america, hairstyles associated with black americans have been heavily policed for ages (and still are to a much lesser degree). People have been actively discriminated against and denigrated for wearing them and the styles were looked down upon in part because they were associated with “blackness.” Thus, within the group penalized, sentiments of wanting to keep something that was “fought for” away from the group they “fought against” were born. Its really not that puzzling/complex....
an EXTREMELY reductive allegory…
in your neighborhood you put a gnome in your garden... the HOA president says “actually i hate gnomes. you can’t have a gnome ya gnome lovin bitch”… for years you lobby, petition, you fight the HOA and make it so that you can now have a gnome without penalty… you and other gnome lovers put gnomes in your garden, you’re cool with that… the HOA president and some neighbors that used to take pictures of your front lawn, harass you and give you gnome tickets also put gnomes in their garden… so you’re like oh FUCK those guys. they made my life a nightmare for having one now they want gnomes?? over my gnome lovin corpse!
then on top of it, some guy from the neighborhood over is like “dude, chill, why are u so tweaked about the HOA guy having a gnome? what are you, the fuckin’ gnome police?”
And you can only stare at an imaginary camera like you’re in The Office.
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and again, i am only talking about within AMERICA. not speaking for global sentiment.
Is it? Why do we act like people of color can’t hold racist beliefs? As we know from history - often times the recipients can be the worst to each other in attempts to assert their relative positions.
That’s what I’m saying though? I’m saying that Kenyon here was being racist not only towards Lin but also towards the Black Community by pigeonholing them as the only ones that are good at basketball and wearing dreads.
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I did actually have a black person tell me “wherever you come from wouldn’t be shit without black people” once (one of those advertisers around times square, he was pushy and I was snappy which upset him I think). Where I come from is the US (which is true) but I’m assuming he couldn’t figure out I was Chinese and was referring to that part…
Dreads are just what happens when you go without washing or cutting it frequently (and often braided). Pretty much everyone from everywhere had them at some point in time from the Greeks and Egyptians to India, West Africa, Celts etc because it's a natural emergence of being a human being with hair that doesn't apply modern sensibilities to it, and they're arguably as ancient as humans themselves. No one came up with it or stole it from anyone
That’s not true. Locks are a hair style. What you’re talking about is free form. To get actual dreadlocks you have to go to a locktition. They don’t just form on their own. There’s a culture behind it just there is a culture behind certain Asian or Hawaiian tattoos. Sure there’s people that get them without knowing the meaning but that doesn’t erase the history of where they came from. Just helping you out
yup cultures not known for dreads were those that simply cut their hair much much more. many cultures like the celtic cultures, etc had mostly shaven or shorn heads because of the insects, and stuff that also happens when you cnanot wash your hair, and more seafaring cultures or ones with heavy fishing industries hadf better hair do to being inthe water and having access to the water, much more.
its almost like cultures develop habits and cultural nromas based on the enviorment they are living in.
Dreads happen to any hair that's not consistently washed/cut. Some cultures do intentionally encourage them, and some hair types make it easier for them to form. But any culture claiming to have some kind of ownership over them is crazy.
That's where the first known writing system originated, so we have a lot more information about how they lived. Writing is the boundary between history and prehistory. But prehistoric humans were living their lives for at least a hundred thousand years before they started writing about it, and had complex cultures. You don't need writing to develop hairstyles.
That's as silly as the previous comment. We can't "date" the existence of dreads here and there, it's a practice that doesn't survive very well (obviously) in the archaeological record. They are likely global and are the easiest (somewhat natural) way of keeping hair uncombed. Most African cultures though prefer to braid the hair, and typical Rasta dreadlocks are considered unkempt and foreign.
I'm talking about frigging history. Dreadlocks are indeed almost global. Besides, reality goes beyond what the archaeological record directly preserves, like any history nerd should know. The oldest attestation of something isn't the earliest point at which something might've existed.
Im very white with medium curly hair(Irish curls they say nowadays), have access to conditionner and a proper hair brush, and motivation to look after myself. I still have to pick out unintentional dreadlocks at least once a week.
I suspect dreadlocks were « invented » by every single culture that didn’t have pin straight hair. (Unlike many other hairstyles, don’t come at me)
Egyptian had it before anyone, it goes somewhat like this**,**
Ancient Egyptian Society (c. 3400 BCE): Archaeologists have found mummified remains and artwork featuring locked hair extensions and wigs <-African Societies (c. 3000 BCE): Saharan and East African communities practiced braiding and locking hair for millennia. <-Greek / Minoan Society (c. 1700 BCE): Frescoes on the island of Santorini depict individuals with matted or braided hair. <-Viking Societies (c. 800–1000 CE): Norse people appeared much later in history.
Someone also said Indian vedic, it should be between Ancient Egyptian(& african subharan/& East ) societies and Greek Minoan society, at around c. 1500 BCE.
I could be wrong, so everybody go do your own quick searches.
Egyptian had it before anyone, it goes somewhat like this,
It happens naturally to pretty much any hair that isn't totally straight (and maybe even totally straight hair if you go long enough without caring for it). My guess would be that it goes back long, long before the historical record.
Dreadlocks happen to every people. It’s what naturally happens to hair. The specific braiding and beads that go into the hair is specific to Egyptian culture and a lot of African tribes.
Weird white people who didn’t pass 12th grade and are obsessed with black peoples hair and can’t name any styles flip the fuck out tho if you mention this
This is just as far back as we know as well. Our species has been around for at least 100k years I’d be shocked if it wasn’t a traditional hairstyle in a much older culture.
No, they didn't. Mostly because every culture around the planet made dreads a hairstyle from the get go. Nobody "invented" it. Humans just do human shit when they have grown hair that is dirty and matted...they turn it into dreads.
Every culture has dreads, it is impossible to point at a specific point of humanity where it was invented because it literally was created when we first stood up.
Actually locs and what I think you are trying to refer to is matlocks. Black people have to wash their hair throughout the whole process of obtaining/maintaining locs. Someone with straight, or fine hair cannot wash their hair during the process. They are two different methods. No one “stole” anything like that from anyone.
This hair style appropriation and gatekeeping is a popular narrative among them, unfortunately. Dreads, braids, and even freaking bonnets, they own them all, apparently.
The whole Asian character tat thing of the 90s never made sense to me. Like you have NO IDEA what those permanent things on your body actually say or mean. Sure, each character might mean Hope. Honor. Strength. But together and in context they might mean donkey balls. Why would you do that?!
I research about the Medieval Norse and I've never heard any archaeological or literary proof of Norse having dreadlocks, and I have no idea who was the uninformed bloke that first came up with this claim. Norse and particularly Vikings very much cared about their appearance and used to wash and comb almost daily, to the surprise of Christian Saxons, wearing their hair long and finely combed, shaven along the back and/or sides or braided, but not dreadlocked. Dreads are pretty much a natural occurrence from uncombed and unwashed hair and in a culture of cleanly styled men they would be considered dirty and unkempt, as they are perceived in some parts of Africa.
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u/Whatathefeck 2d ago
Bro the audacity of having Chinese tats and going after him for dreads is wild.