| | so...i realize anyone
who was reading this has probably stopped because i never update... hey, man,
i'm busy... leave me alone.... i do too much, and am always about two steps
away from compete insanity ... oh well, i guess it's better to have passion and
no sense of direction then a sense of direction and no passion...
in the last week, my physical appearance has been radically altered (for those
of you who don't know, i actually look nothing like jimi hendrix. nor do
i, in fact, make a habit of setting guitars on fire, so don't read too much
into my profile pic...) the david crowder/bob dylin-esque white-boy afro
is no more, having been twisted and waxed into submission into dreadlocks.....
and i'm happy.... it took about ten hours with the wonderful assistance of
kelly, wheaton's african hair braider-in residence, and hurts like hell, but
its fun and makes a statement.... (btw, if anyone's interested in taking
the natty pluge, i highly suggest getting the stuff from www.dreadheadhq.com -
when you do be sure to mention me and my email (christ.griot@gmail.com), so
that we can both get free stuff (ain't capitalism wonderful? ;))
only question is - what kind of statement? malcolm x in his autobiography goes
into a fair amount of detail describing his pre-muslim fixation with the conk,
a hair style that used to be popular among African-American me that involved
chemically messing with the hair in order to make it straight (think little
richard). according to mr. el-shabazz, this desire in black men to play with
their hair to make it look like a white person's indicated a lack of
dignity and pride in being who they really were. by trying making his hair look
"normal" (read: what the white majority thinks hair should look
like), the conk-ie was really saying he was ashamed of being who he really
was. this got me to thinking - did i put this much expense and time into
getting an african-derived hair style because i was ashamed of being white?
for the longest time, i thought i was supposed to be ashamed of being
white. the worst of my ancestors owned slaves, fought for the
confederacy, and joined "white citizens' councils", while the best
ones too often did nothing or stood back as ethnic minorities were being
oppressed. - and though i do not directly participate in these
generational sins that go back at least 400 years, i still benefit from the
wealth my family gained unjustly through free labor on the backs of
others. it would be very easy to feel shame... but i don't -
because i still believe God, who made me who i am, can use me just as i
am. - in calling for diversity, the last thing african-american,
latino(-a), first nation peoples, and asian-americans are asking from me is to
feel shame or false guilt.
too often, christians are really good at creating guilt to avoid having
to repent....
rather then feeling shame, we must learn to celebrate each other, recognizing
our cultural traditions as good (equal, yet beautifully distinct), and dealing
with uncomfortable issues of structural evil openly - but always being willing
to bring what we have to offer to the table - and learn from each other. we are
not alone in this world, i hope that my dreads do not communicate
dissatisfaction with my ethnic background, but instead tell the world i have
found a culture that has produced something beautiful, and wish to joyfully
learn from it, without negating other things my tradition may offer the
world.
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| | Posted 2/2/2007 12:49 AM - 48 Views - 12 eProps - 6 comments
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