Today in Tabloids Being Terrible, a snap of an In Touch page called "Creature Feature" is circulating online (h/t to Bossip), featuring a headshot of Solange Knowles adjacent to a Yorkie-Poo named Jackie. According to the dog's owner, Solange and Jackie are "basically twinsies."
Obviously, this is an example of racism: It is ignorant to compare a poodle's fur to a woman's natural hair texture. And, while we're on the topic of Solange's hair, it's always beautiful, no matter how she chooses to wear it.
Some people may be operating under the false assumption that "it's just hair," and that this comparison could possibly be construed as "funny," which was obviously the magazine's intention. But, there is history to hair — especially Black women's hair. In the words of Michaela Angela Davis, an image activist and a woman far more eloquent than I could ever aspire to be, "We hold all this stuff in our hair...it is a repository of our history, of our heroes, of our happiness...it's how we identify."
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Comparing a God-given, gorgeous, full head of hair to a dog is damning, triggering, and damaging in more ways than one. Given how many strides the natural hair community has made in recent years to be heard and appreciated, this is a very disappointing instance of ignorance.
Feel free to chime in with your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
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