Article I read on Essence.com earlier: SCIENTISTS DEVELOPING A PILL TO MAKE CURLY HAIR STRAIGHT
Evidently some scientists in Australia have siscovered the gene that makes hair curly, and as such are trying to "CURE GENETICALLY TEXTURED LOCKS".
I shared this link with a girlfriend of mine, and the first thing she said was "Nice."
My jaw dropped. This is NOT. NICE. Not in the least. Not okay.
When she balked at my reaction, I told her that I feel like this would just be another way for black women to white-ify themselves, rather than embracing our beauty for what it truly is. And her response was basically, if outside society doesn't value us, why should we value ourselves? She called me out, saying my hair isn't nappy enough for me to defend naturalism so staunchly.
...I feel like minorities don't even care about being themselves anymore. I've had both black friends and Asian friends tell me they would rather be white, and I simply can't understand this. Who would voluntarily give up such a huge chunk of themselves as their race? She said she feels devalued. I told her that we as a people need to value ourselves, rather than try to be just like those who devalue us to begin with. She said she couldn't value herself by parading her natural hair, if that's what I meant, because she doesn't like her natural hair (though she compliments me on mine almost daily...), or by sacrificing her goals of a husband and a family to make a stand (going back to the statistics about the dearth of professional black women who have ever been married., ie another rant for another time).
Call me an extremist, but I see partaking in a product such as this theoretical pill to be a traitorous act against one's people, and perhaps even as an act of terrorism against one's own body. This "If you can't beat, 'em, join 'em" attitude that she has is just...a scary sign to me. It kind of sucks all the hope right out of me. I mean, maybe I'm biased because I'm the daughter of a man who marched with Malcom X and the granddaughter of a woman who marched with Dr. King, but it actually hurts me to my very soul that black women are harboring these feelings. I am SHOCKED and APPALLED that women would go so far as to genetically alter themselves. How many people feel this way?
I feel like this pill is the first step to saying that blackness is a disease that needs to be cured. Haven't we as a society come past that?
Will we ever if, like my friend, the people being affected most by society's devaluing are always trying to escape their blackness, rather than embrace it? If those who claim they wish black beauty woulld be affirmed live their lives affirming it for other people, but never for themselves? Whateverh appened to leading by example???
This is just my personal opinion, but I feel like black women will never be truly considered beautiful until they consider themselves to be beautiful. No amount of the outside world telling you you're beautiful is going to make you feel that inside--that kind of self-love has to come from within.Love has to start with the self, and personally, I want to love myself as I came into this world, nappy and all. If I were a religious individual, which I'm not, I promise--if I were a God-fearing individual, I'd say well, weren't we all supposedly created in His image? Why would you want to do anything but embrace that?
An exercise for all those lacking in self-adoration: I want you to go stand in front of a mirror and look at your face and tell yourself five things you love about it. You're not allowed to leave until you've said 5. Ready, set, go!
--Dada Chiku
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