Race and Culture: Kinky Hair & Brown Skin

Race and Culture: Kinky Hair & Brown Skin

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Upon moving to this country when I was still a child, I learned I was different and would be treated differently because of my brown skin. Having seen discrimination in my own country (The Dominican Republic) between Dominicans proved to have a similar look on how racism works in the “Land of the Free.” In the Dominican Republic, “to look more pretty is to look less black” (Daniel Favors). The thought of women wearing their natural hair out in public was a taboo subject. Nothing about connecting to our African roots was attractive, and women would make sure that, not only themselves, but their daughters and nieces also had chemically relaxed and straightened hair, just to look like the average European woman.

Lurie Daniel Favors writes in her blog post “Black, Latina and Wearing Natural Hair” that she also saw the difference of how the public and her family treated her when her hair was straightened, versus when it was naturally curly. I have witnessed members of my own family telling my sisters that they need to straighten their hair to look more elegant because no man would want someone with nappy, matted-looking hair. This makes me believe that racism is taught or absorbed, especially in the household when others are told to reject a part of themselves -in this case- something as simple as natural hair.

This translates the same to the dramatic increase of evidence of police brutality and the pre-planned targeting of Blacks and Hispanics for “crimes” that nowadays end in them being arrested or killed. Not only is there enough evidence to show that there is racial profiling, but we see that somehow, these people are not getting the justice they deserve from those who took an oath to serve and protect. Recently, there was a leaked recording of an officer who took it upon himself to show that racial profiling is more common than what Americans think. “The conversation just turned completely weird to me,” Birch said. “Because he’s basically telling me it’s OK to racially profile” (Wellman, 2016). In this long audio recording, we can hear this officer’s supervisor repeatedly trying to justify the targeting of Black and Hispanic males. If America doesn’t accept your skin and your culture, then what do you do with it?

It seems as if the only thing left to do is bury it. Rachel Afi Quinn, in her article “No Tienes Que Entenderlo: Xiomara Fortuna, Racism and other Forces in The Dominican Republic” talks about how difficult it is for Dominicans, in their own country, to have some kind of real, deep-found, cultural identity because of the constant rejection of our African roots. The same goes for America, the melting pot of the world when it comes to diversity. A land that is made up of immigrants justifies the rejection of the different cultural, ethnicities, and minorities who live here. To deny that this is happening in our own home is to be blind to the truth. It makes me think: If we looked different, as in white, straight hair, and blue/green eyes, would we be treated better in the land we call home?

Works Cited

Favors, L. D. (n.d.). Black, Latina & Wearing Natural Hair. Retrieved September 21, 2016, from http://www.afrostateofmind.com/black-latina-wearing-natural-hair/

Wellman, N. (2016, July 13). NYPD Cop Secretly Records His Supervisor Telling Him to Racially Profile Black Men - Then Leaks the Tape. Retrieved September 21, 2016, from http://usuncut.com/black-lives-matter/nypd-racial-profiling-recording/

QUINN, R. A. (2015). "No tienes que entenderlo": Xiomara Fortuna, Racism, Feminism, and Other Forces in the Dominican Republic. Black Scholar, 45(3), 54-66. doi:10.1080/00064246.2015.1060690