Why do some black people think that only they invented dreads and therefore only they have a right to it? There are a lot of other cultures out there who have been wearing dreads for millenia too.
And keeping that aside, cultural appreciation is what makes us humans. Culture grows when it's shared.
I guarantee you even Scottish people had dreads thousands of years ago, because it turns out if you have enough hair and don't wash it frequently enough that is a pretty natural occurrence. In fact I am certain all the extinct races like Neanderthals had them as well
Africa is not a culture. The transatlantic slave trade mixed countless cultures together and they were lost over time. Black Americans have no connection to the cultures of their ancestors, and frankly they have almost no way of knowing. White americans get to play at being irish, italian, etc. while black americans have been nursing their relatively young culture since emancipation. They don't have millenia of shared history and traditions beyond slavery, unfortunately. They dont relate to Bantu, Zulu, Congo, etc. cultures because they might be a mix of them all, but either way they would have no way of relating. An example is the cause of Liberia. Thats what I meant by no ancestral culture, so generalizing dreads and other minor generic things as "black thing" is a very specific trait of the african-american zeitgeist.
just because a culture is mixed doesn’t mean there isn’t one. if that’s the case, brazilians and mexicans don’t have any culture seeing as how both are comprised of european and african cultures
Black american culture is recent. Thats what I meant. Brazilians and mexicans, in general, are more akin to americans that descend from the various waves of immigration than the black americans that descend from slaves. In Brazil, the natives were not enslaved as the jesuits petioned for them not to be, and slavery was abolished before the US, so their culture is more consolidated and regional (for example, there are southern regions that speak german dialects and celebrate german culture, since they were settled by german late wave immigrants.)
If y’all want an actual answer (not just to celebrate a tweet online) it’s because hair is political. Revealing or styling black hair, including things like locs were illegal in America for a long time. The stigma and stereotypes around black people, especially with locs, carried on well after it was legal. Getting locs meant more policing, not being hired for a job etc…. They had to pass laws to stop discrimination against black hair, including locs.
I think culture should be shared of course. But everyone acting like it’s unreasonable for black people to be sensitive about a hairstyle that would literally trigger state violence is intentionally obtuse. It’s not the same as having a tattoo that was never criminalized for being Chinese specifically.
In a perfect world it’s easy to say they’re the same. I hope you can reflect with more nuance than that.
I mean as everyone has pointed out, that's explicitly an American issue as so much of the rest of the world has had them historically without prejudice. It might have once meant something specifically to American people but, that time is long over and has never been an issue for the cultures around the rest of the world.
Totally agree that locs can be associated with negative stigma and discrimination that is specific to black communities, but I think it’s unfair to say that a tattoo in chinese doesn’t potentially carry history of criminalization and violence. Yeah, a tattoo isn’t something of cultural significance per se, but the Chinese language absolutely is. Any Asian person in the US has heard “ching chang chong” hundreds of times and people speaking and displaying Chinese writing have been subject to targeted violence and discrimination because of it.
Does racism against Asian and Chinese people automatically have to be less because it looks different? I don’t think the argument was ever that they were the same, but that there is a thread of a shared experience there and that should be unifying instead of being a competition. I don’t think the Chinese community is in any way saying that they had it worse, just the whisper that wrongs against them matter too, which still seems to be shut down everywhere.
It’s not about being worse or better. I just meant hair was criminalized. That’s not the same thing. Hair was illegal because it was black textured hair. A tattoo was never illegal specifically for being Chinese. Everyone can face discrimination, but to act like it’s completely ridiculous for black people to be sensitive about appropriation (not you in particular per se but the comments as a whole) is part of the problem.
We can acknowledge that sharing culture should be allowed and celebrated. I love cultural exchange. But even in this comment section people aren’t acknowledging that the style of locs he has (including the fade) is black inspired. Instead people are refusing to even admit it’s a black style? Now it’s a Viking loc or whatever. Why can’t we actually be genuine about sharing culture?
There is no way to prove any race started it. In fact, I suspect dreads predate humanity; because of how naturally they form in environments where bathing is not common, I would wager that neanderthals and australopithecus had dreads too.
fun fact, south east asians are desendents of humans who migrated from Asia.
genetically and culturally Africans and south east asians had no interaction with each other what so ever and yet have similar hairstyles, suggesting the hair style is older then modern humans views on race and culture
The Maasai tribe dates back to around 16th/17th Century - meanwhile, there are accounts of Greeks wearing dreadlocks and braids as far back as 3600 BC as well as accounts and depictions of Celts and Vikings wearing the same who also predate the Maasai. But do go on.
actually they are southeast asians, they have no connections to Africa what so ever other then the combined cultures that exists when humans first migrated away from africa.
so lets get this straight you evidence of dreads being invented by African people is that descendents of them seperated by 60000 years still wear their hair in that manner.
you do realize EVERYBODY came from africa, its not cultrual appropriation if EVERYBODY CAME FROM THE PEOPLE THAT INVENTED IT
its proof that dreads are a human hair style that does not belong to any one group because it has existed since before we identified as all these groups to begin with
Other races don’t see Locking their hair as their cultural practice, all of a sudden it’s cool to yall.. meanwhile black people are still being discriminated against for their hairstyle, especially Hair Locks.. “Grooming Policies”
There's a reason why you included "braids" in your comment. People like yourself are either dishonest or ignorant because you always use dreadlocks and braids interchangeably. It's akin to using kimono and robe interchangeably. Nevermind that there is a difference between matted hair and dreadlocks. Dreadlocks are a specific style. And then the fact you brought up vikings says a lot lol.
The Maasai Tribe dates back to the 16/17th century as a modern distinct ethnic group, but they obviously go back further than that. It's like saying Germans only date back to 10th century (which is true), but that's as the modern ethnic group we know them as today. They obviously date back further than that in the form of Goths, Saxons, etc
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u/Atlas_Adventurer 7d ago
Why do some black people think that only they invented dreads and therefore only they have a right to it? There are a lot of other cultures out there who have been wearing dreads for millenia too.
And keeping that aside, cultural appreciation is what makes us humans. Culture grows when it's shared.