A while ago, I wrote Hair From Hong Kong And Bleached Skins Favored by Black Men in which I wondered publicly the culture impact and import of false hairs and fake hairs and gaudy fake hair fashion overstatements by continental African women and women of African descent worldwide.
Soon after that Hair From Hong et al article, I wrote a similarly themed article titled Green Eyes, Blue Eyes Frivolous and Black, this fake colored eyes phenomenon actually came about as consequences of one of my readers’ response to the Hong Kong article. The reader, in essence was the inspiration for the fake colored eyes article because she, in agreeing with my points in the Hair From Hong Kong article, reminded me of the fake colored eyes phenomenon, which I have myself observed and hence the full length article on fake false eye contact lenses colors among Black women etc.
Since then, I have also become aware of a documentary movie made by the actor, comedian and all round creative African American personality, Chris Rock, in which he dealt with the issue of high pedestal and high stage or platform our women seemingly reserve for hair matters!
And now as I write this, I think of Donna Summer’s song of decades ago, titled She Works Hard For the Money and in the back recesses of my mind, another song hums, and it is by another great lady of songs, Billie Holiday, and it is, God Bless The Child. Two songs about money, sung by two great Black ladies artistes. Both great Black ladies through their songs emphasized what we all already know, it is the arcane and mundane trite fact, that money is important, and the additional fact of how hard, those earning money legitimately have to work! Even God blesses those who have material wealth, does she not?
I am an admirer of Black women of courage. Fumilayo Anikulapo Ransome Kuti or Queen Amina or Jaja of Opobo or Dorothy Height or Winnie Mandela or Angela Davies or Amatata Shakur and the group of Aba Women who in 1929 let it be known that oppression is not acceptable, all these great Black and many others are the apple of my eye and the milk of my sustenance, they are my source of pride, as courageous persons who were and are, doubly discriminated by reason of race and then, gender, and yet, they stood tall, so we, me, could have human rights and equality and have our human dignity respected.
The world is in the middle of financial and economic meltdown and stagnation; and as a consequence, many public policy planners have had to resort to creative and most innovative ways to regenerate comatose economies. In the United States President Barack Obama’s administration have been prodigious in tackling the economic recession, the worst since the Great Depression. President Obama unfurled sundry economic policies, the most critical and crucial, being the so-called Economic Stimulus Package and Mr. Obama has promoted this, several phases.
There were the bailouts of banks and financial institutions. Then, there were the bailouts and rescues which targeted the American automobile or vehicle manufacturers in the United States. Three was the Cash for Clunkers rebates as well as the Mortgage Assistance Program in which the US federal government provided incentives for potential buyers, especially, first time owner occupier home buyers. And it does appear that the American economy is responding to these profound and prodigious efforts by President Obama to stimulate economic growth and generate employment, enabling Americans to create health wealth and happiness.
China is another nation which has taken bold actions to stimulate her national economy, even as it chugs along in rapid growth with concerns for probable inflationary pressures. Even so, China has since the global economic meltdown, devoted more public spending towards massive public works projects, creating new public infrastructures such as roads and bridges and expanded railways and rail lines throughout China. China have aggressively invested in massive public works projects, repairing old structures while simultaneously creating new ones. Massive Public Works Programs are time tested and known to stimulate economic growth across the world, past and present, and in recognition of this fact, I actually had in early 2007, soon after presidential elections in Nigeria and well before, the global economic meltdown became apparent worldwide and publicly, I had advocated that the Nigerian government engage in Massive Public Works Projects, particularly so, given the fact that Nigeria’s foreign debt overhang of about $36 billion dollars, was completely discharged by the then outgoing President Obasanjo administration. Massive Public Works Project is known and seen, in the circumstances, an economic stimulus which was perfect for Nigerian circumstances. Nigerian public infrastructures were neglected, abandoned to decay and left in decrepit state of decadence for decades and decades and besides, Massive Public Works Projects was a perfect way to generate employment in Nigeria which continues to suffer double digit unemployment, even among college educated persons.
America, China, Nigeria and other nations interested in economic and social progress have had to rethink and reformulate public policies in the face of the global financial and economic meltdown. Corporations big , medium and small, have also had to become more creative and seek innovative ways to create, produce and market more with less. Individual persons have also had to minute-micro-manage resources in the face unemployment and scarcity of loans, overdraft facilities and other resources. There have been tales of persons have to economize by using less toiletries, and being mindful of wastage, of soap, toilet papers, toothpaste and very basic daily necessities.
This is therefore ties rather very nicely and fits perfectly, with the idea, the main theme and message of this essay. It is public knowledge for instance, that continental Africans and peoples of African descent are, unfortunately at the bottom wrung of the global economy. A direct translation of this point is merely to restated that Aborigines in Australia are not doing better than the peoples of African descent in Bahia Brazil. In this respects, it bears repeating the economic and social circumstances of African Americans in South Side Chicago and Carbrini Green are not much different from the economic and social conditions of African Americans in Harlem, or in Red Hook, East New York or Bedford Stuyvesant all in New York City or in South Central Los Angeles or African American dire unemployment rates and haplessness in Detroit Michigan.
Abject poverty, unemployment, and social economic and familial hardships are common to continental Africans in Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Egypt, the Congo and all the 53 nations on the African continent which have enjoyed flag independence for almost fifty years now, on the average. And these conditions of abject poverty, dirt-poor hardships and attendant desperation are shared in common with peoples of African descent in Jamaica, Trinidad, Antigua, Cuba, St. Keats and St. Vincent, Grenada and Guyana and Haiti. Peoples of African descent in the Honduras and Mexico, Puerto Rico and Bahamas and Barbados and Belize. The history of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, racism and disdain and contempt by the rest of the world is shared in common. The history, the plights and predicaments of continental Africans and peoples of African descent are identical.
This common history, plights and predicaments. These present human conditions of abject poverty, hardships, sufferings and desperation and the mindset of devalued, demeaned and undermined peoples are shared by and between continental Africans and peoples of African descent worldwide. The impact and vestiges of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, racism and economic lopsidedness and all the other stacking of the decks against continental Africans and peoples of African descent, have produced negative sense of selves and lower self-esteems among cont
inental Africans and peoples of African descent, in both tangible and intangible ways, and in both visible and invincible ways as well.
Hair is a major issue for women worldwide
Hair is an astronomical, monumental, phenomenal and extraordinary importance to continental African women and women of African descent. Continental Africans and women of African descent can be rightly said to be obsessed with having and not having hair. At the risk of generalizing and stereotyping all Black women, it must be said that the hair fixations and the resulting expenditures and time and meager resources by Black women, are readily observable in our homes, schools, in the trains and buses and everywhere continental Africans and women of African descent are found. It is almost always irrelevant what the age of the Black woman is, or what her social class, education and breeding is! Whatever affronts Black men commit against Black women, (there are many affronts)! But Black men do better not cross a Black woman or come across as a barriers, impediments, and obstacles between a Black woman and false fake gaudy hair! No you don’t! But there is a backgrounder. There is method to the hair madness! It arose from the “received” definition of beauty, which is blond shoulder length hair and blue green eyes.
Long hair and now, the need to be size two, with the tortuous route to thinness which is too often stacked with anorexia, bulimia and other self-destructive assumed and self-imposed trip to nadir, in efforts to be it, it being the “mainstream” definition of what a beautiful woman is, has over the years, created a poor and yes, very poor imitation among continental African women and women of African descent, a poor imitation of the “standard” of beauty, and the standard bearer, of course, being a white women!
Man or woman, continental African or of African descent, with a sense of culture, dignity and pride would have to see, perceive and cringe at the daily exhibitions and manifestations of the majority of our people, who have become the epitome of fakery! False hair, fake hair, Black woman with blond hair, black woman with golden or fire engine-red hair, black woman with green-blue eyes
All these cost MONEY!
Money, time and resources which are sourly lacking within and between continental Africans and peoples of African descent is squandered in every waking moment and during every nanoseconds worldwide, a poor black great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, sister and daughter is squandering her meager resources on fake-false-gaudy hair in a nonsensical false advertisement of the hokum also known as mainstream’s “received” definition of beauty! What in the name of beauty is gained in subjecting a five years old little black girl to the excruciating heat emanating and emitting from a hair dryer, in the process of frying-pressing her hair? (frying her head and brains)!
Why? Again, I will tell you, that there is a method to this madness! Continental Africans and peoples of African descent have been bombarded with downward definitions of their persons, which have all through history been done through barrages and badgering of the self-image of continental Africans and peoples of African descent. This onset and continuing regimens of image devastation reserved for our peoples, have come full circle and the outcomes are self-evident and glaringly obvious to all and for all, to see. We should and must stop the squander on false-fake hairs, which in the end caricature us as poor imitations of others, outside of our culture. I therefore have a proposal with which to address, here it is..
Imagine for a split second, that these squandered scarce money, time and scarce resources were instead invested in exercise classes, for health and fitness or personal growth and improvements, imagine if invested in education and or business and personal grooming of different kinds? Imagine that there are 500 million continental African women and women of African descent worldwide. Imagine further that these 500 million women spent the average of $20 per week on tendering to fake-false caricature hairs, imagine how much money could be saved and spared of needless squander, by these 500 million women? I have never been good with mathematics, but I can memorized multiple telephone numbers and never forget them, even so, with my poor math skills, I do realize that 500 million multiplied by 20 is a lot of money! 500 million women multiplied by $20 dollars per week, and 52 weeks a year?!!! Let the Hair Holiday and Moratorium by Black Women As an Economic Stimulus begin! The soul and salvation of the black race in the hands of the matriarchs of the black race!
Continental Africans and peoples of African descent have never been bailed out throughout history or historically, perhaps it goes to prove that we are all that we have and perhaps this Hair Holiday and Moratorium will be the major bailout for continental Africans and peoples of African descent in these economic dire straits in which we have found ourselves? And as we bailout ourselves, we would be simultaneously making a worthy fashion statement of self-confidence. our supreme confidence in our natural looks and curves and pigments and hues. A renaissance which includes heightened self-esteem and keen sense of selves would be a new dawn for continental Africans and peoples of African descent in tandem with economic growth, progress, advancement and greatness of our race worldwide, continental African women and women of African descent as bedrock of our race’s foundation and survival can do no less than embrace this Hair Holiday and Moratorium.
I wish that I could gather all continental African men and men of African descent in one room, or in one stadium, for the sole purpose of telling them to show more love to continental African women and women of African descent. Show more love in the process announce and pronounce to our black women that we love them the way the naturally are . without blue-green eyes, and without outrageous-outlandish hair colors, and without imported horse hairs or the all-new, 100% human hair! Save the money, you worked hard for the money! Invest on yourself, outside of your hair-eyes-nails!
I wish that I could memo, email and tweet all continental African women and all women of African descent and say to them, look, there are more of you with college degrees these days, up 60% of you, compared to the male counterparts. This therefore means that the survival of our race is in your hands! This means, needed economic and social development will be heavily dependent and reliant upon our females. This means that there must be more and more investments by our females, outside and beyond hair dressing salon and colored contact lenses opticians, and more outside nails extensions and wig purchases expenditure models.
Continental Africans and peoples of Africans descent worldwide, men and women, will have to make peace with the fact that our men and women, will marry out of our race, our men have been doing that for the most part. Even so, this phenomenon should not be the poor excuse or serve as a factor, as to why our peoples should want to or seek to bleach their skins, or surgically pummel down their noses, or obtain bank over drafts and collateralized loans, for gaudy false-fake wig or shoulder length extensions! Continental Africans and peoples of African descent should engage in paradigm shift to a perspective, a better sense of ourselves, even despite our checkered collective history which have been dealt us through slavery, colonialism, apartheid and racism etc.
Continental Africans and peoples of African descent must emphasize the mantra of being the best that we can be, as the US Army use to advertise in the past. instead of squandering and wasting money and precious time and resources, and yet, in the end, we are looking like a poor imitation and caricature of others and worse, creating the image of those who have oppressed, tormented and committed a downward definition of us in compariso
n with themselves! Imitation is said to be the best form of flattery, but it is a most inappropriate in the circumstances.
Why would any Jew without mental illness wake up everyday, dressed like Adolf Hitler, a Nazi with a swastika? Why would any sane Jew call such waywardness a versatile fashion statement?
