Untangling the Myth of Hair

From the time of the African Diaspora until the present day, there persists the myth that kinky (black) hair, nappy curly hair is something to be ashamed of and avoided at all cost.

by Rev. Wayne K. Purcell

When the slave was placed on the auction block for sale He/She naturally felt an extreme sense of ugliness, helplessness and inferiority. It was incomprehensible how we could be treated like the animals we once hunted for food. Although in hindsight, I now realize how highly valuable we were and that those who portrayed the black race as inferior were in fact, the inferior ones. After all we did what they were not capable of doing.



Nonetheless
from that day forward a systematic psycho-spiritual warfare, to reduce
us to something less than human had taken root. We never questioned the
insults and or derogatory stigmas, overtime we even saw ourselves as
inferior. Our self esteem was found in attacking each other while all
along affirming our loss of self pride and self knowledge. This, we did
to ourselves through the years of nurturing the self hate that was
systematically taught to us while on the block (auction block).


We propagated
and perpetuated the myths in our communities with rhymes, jokes and
continuous put-downs. Not realizing that television, radio and schools
were the real orchestraters of what became known as ‘the Willie Lynch
rules’. Yet the only difference between you and me is our skins color
and the texture of my hair. Hair that was placed upon us by a loving,
omniscient, wise, creator God, and a superior skin that is filled with
pigments to absorb the most powerful solar disk in the sky (sun). God
had given the African the perfect covering, from head to toe, for our
environment- Africa.


Yet in such a
confusing land called ‘America’, which was fraught with hate, murder,
kidnapping and rape; as a disadvantage people in a strange land, our
survival depended on how quickly the African was willing and or able to
adept and assimilate. The cost to assimilate can be traced through each
generation. The knowledge of self was reduced to ignorance and shame.
Instead of preserving our culture, we did everything we could to shed
it. There became a conundrum with our hair and skin! What to do with
this kinky, curly stuff that seemed so out of place in this strange
land? We attempted to answer this question through a genocidal response
of un-naturalizing our beautiful curly, kinky hair.

With a vengeance
did we ruin, destroy and abuse our beautiful, marvelous, precious,
protective mane on our crowns.


The Bible
informs us that “our people shall perish for the lack of knowledge” –
(self knowledge). This spiraling texture we call nappy, emulates, more
than any other, the spiraling affects of our DNA and the cosmos. It is
divinely placed at the top our bodies and when allowed to grow
naturally becomes our antennas to the spiritual world.


This is why hair locks; like the planets above, it is always spiraling heavenly…