With Hair People Want to Touch All the Time

[jlh]

This Is Dedicated to That One Black Kid, comic by Keith Knight
Monday: who lives in that tiny ass town off the highway, in the middle of nowhere
Tuesday: who was not into hip hop in high school
Wednesday: who gets used as the reason why someone isn't a racistShort answer: Don't ask people you don't know well if you can touch their hair. It's

Comments

[jlh]

I guess what I mean about responsibility is not, am I responsible for saying something, but more, should I be the end all of someone's racial knowledge? Like, did I fail my friend in high school that she was unprepared that all black people aren't like me? Should I have tried harder to tell her that they aren't? Am I responsible because I am black and I know things to research the things I don't know, or make clear the things I understand, so that I can be that one-stop shop for my white friends for whom I am their only black friend? That's really what I mean.

In the classroom, of course I have a responsibility, and I've discovered this year just how much teaching is a political act, because you have to decide what and how to teach. I sort of knew that on a higher level, but there are all these tiny decisions, and I realize how political they all can be. So yeah, sure, I'm a teacher, and I'm willing to explain things. I guess I'm thinking, well, where does how I'm willing to help in pointing things out end, and the other person's responsibility to look up some things on their own begin?

I see what you're saying about great hair, though I think that black women are also saying "you're biracial, aren't you" and in fact that's often the next sentence. You can see conob's comment below for her experience with that as a mixed race white/Korean woman-it was her comment that made me understand why I saw that as a sort of racial thing. But basically, within the black community the standards might swing (though not as much as in the dominant culture) but all hair is always political, all the time.

[calloocallay]

Re Teaching one's casual acquaintances: It IS a scary thought to wonder if you are really one-stop shopping for an entire body of knowledge. I see what you mean.

Also, I would like to self-edit a bit: I did not mean to imply that these subjects were not fraught with racial significance, but rather that because of your posts, I now see these specific good hair and explainy-ness racial issues in a new light. Whew. I was slightly afraid all weekend that I had accidentally implied that I thought you were wrong.

Also, Chris got you a small present!

[jlh]

I was slightly afraid all weekend that I had accidentally implied that I thought you were wrong.

No, I never thought that. I can see how it could read that way, except that you would never say "You don't know what your experience means" so I knew you meant it the way you meant it.

I really hope that I'm leading people to do thinky things and then research further, though I think that making lots of links to things helps with that. Reading through the IBARW posts--and I haven't read nearly as many as I am going to--has been a huge learning experience so I'll probably also be pointing to some of those in the coming months, too.

Also: Yay for presents!