timing
They say timing is everything, right? So my birthday week got off to a great start, and I was really moved and inspired by what I learned at the African Burial Ground Museum. But THEN, I made the mistake of going to see Chris Rock’s film, Good Hair, the very next day. I don’t know what I was thinking, and I already knew it was going to be problematic, but I wasn’t prepared for the way I felt when I left the cinema: demoralized, disgusted, discouraged. And I know there are a lot of folks out there who don’t want to hear me talk about black hair b/c they think I have no right; I can give endless presentations, and show endless photos of my pre-teen Afro and it won’t make a bit of difference b/c when folks look at me today, they see “good hair.” That standard has changed over time, of course (as has my hair), so while “good hair” used to mean hair that was naturally straight, it now means hair that straightens easily or waves or looks “mixed.” At any rate, Good Hair the film is a “mockumentary” in two ways: it’s a faux documentary, with a comedian asking questions of “regular” folks, trying to get them to reveal just how screwed up they really are. B/c Rock’s intention isn’t to probe the origins of black hair politics—it’s to make us laugh (and cringe) at the ridiculousness of the billion-dollar industry it has become. But there are no “experts” in the film to help us theorize the actions and antics of these “regular” folks…there’s no theoretical or historical framework, and so no one really talks about the pain—not of having your scalp singed, but of being told for centuries that your very appearance confirms the “fact” that blacks are subhuman. Every other month, it seems, some idiot compares the First Lady or President Obama to an ape or chimpanzee, but no one wants to admit that this is nothing new—it’s been going on for centuries, with white supremacists claiming that blacks are not fully evolved, not truly civilized, not far removed from animals. And biological difference is used to justify that idea–“Look at their hair! It’s like wool, or mange…” Rock never mentioned former Member of Congress Cynthia McKinney being denied entrance by a security guard on Capitol Hill who didn’t recognize her once she changed her hair…or the racist remarks that followed about her hair looking like “a Brillo pad” (read a racist Washington Post article here). Rock mainly interviews actresses, male music executives (?), and a “video vixen.” Why the eff would we care about THEIR hair choices? (unless he was going to talk about how they won’t get cast for certain roles if they have natural hair). I counted all of TWO black women with natural hair in the film. Rock then goes to India and mocks their culture by riding on an ox-drawn cart as cars and motorized rickshaws whiz by. Indian women sacrifice their hair out of humility; black women, according to this film, lack humility and are driven by vanity alone. They’ll pay $1000 for a weave, rather than pay rent, feed their kids, etc. (enter the specter of the welfare queen…). The most ridiculous part of the film is the hair show in Atlanta, where stylists compete to see not who can cut hair the best, but who can create the wildest spectacle. Black and white gay men are ridiculed in this segment, while the black women stylists are made to seem stupid (and you know what? their routines WERE idiotic—one “cut” hair underwater while the other hung upside down from parallel bars). Sigh. Am I done yet? Is there anything else left to say? Teen filmmaker Kiri Davis made a MUCH better, MUCH shorter film which you can view here. You may also have heard that Rock is being sued by a black woman filmmaker who claims he stole her ideas after she showed him HER film on black hair a few years ago. Read more here. THIS is the film *I* wanted to see:
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