[Editor’s note: Last week, while folks here on Anti-Racist Parent were discussing Renee’s compelling post on Zahara Jolie-Pitt’s hair, some of us behind the scenes were talking about a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution article that also raised issues of beauty standards and norms surrounding black hair. Below, is another installment of a multi-part discussion of the piece and black hair politics.]
written by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Pia Guerrero
The way writer Michelle Hiskey describes little Miriam’s hair and her father’s dedication to “taming” it makes me cringe. By using words like neaten, hygiene and behave Hiskey implies that Miriam, like her hair, is messy, dirty, and untamable. It seems that without her doting father’s intervention, this poor little girl would be nothing more than a wild, uneducated pickaninny with big eyes, huge red lips and—surprise—nappy, un-styled and “unkempt” hair. The whole piece smacks of modern day colonialism where the noble white man civilizes and saves this exotic little girl from a far away land not only from herself, but for her own good.
Its sad that this dedicated father is portrayed as an anomaly who goes above and beyond the call of duty of any man, especially any white man who is the father of a black child. To celebrate him and his wife for wanting the little girl to be accepted regardless of her looks is just plain wrong. It’s great they want her to be accepted, but what is wrong with her looks? The writer’s heavy-handed voice distracts from the real and more interesting issue: how do white parents navigate the murky cultural waters of raising a child from a different culture and of a different race? Do they adopt the narrowly defined standards of beauty that exist in both the white and black community? Or do they blissfully ignore these standards and expose their children to the alienation of not fitting in the name of freedom?
By knowing how to make straight parts, neat twists and careful braids…[he] has earned high-fives from stunned African-Americans.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Does this white man really walk down the street with his neatly coiffed black little girl and get high-fives from the shocked blacks he passes? I haven’t gotten a high-five since the 90s, so to picture this scenario is not only funny, it’s absurd. I can only assume (and hope) that Hiskey is speaking metaphorically. In a failed attempt to seem “down” she reveals her ignorance and cultural bias.
Pia blogs at Adios Barbie
I was wondering whether I should dip my toes in the water here… but I’ll go ahead. I’m in the minority opinion on this piece and don’t think it was really all that bad.
I’m speaking as someone who is neither black nor white, but lives in Atlanta. The article is getting blamed for everything it doesn’t talk about — white privilege, now colonialism — as if it were a book-length essay!
But it’s an AJC lifestyle Father’s Day puff piece. The AJC is pretty content-light in the first place. Any piece even containing the phrase “white privilege” would never, ever, ever make it past the editor’s desk, unless it was in scare quotes and being attacked by a conservative editorial column.
I don’t believe it’s above criticism, but I think the criticism needs a little more contextualization.
In fact, some of the criticism here has made me reflect on the fact that although Atlanta is a minority-white city, that’s definitely not reflected by the AJC, whose lifestyle coverage is still geared to a predominantly white readership.
I think the article is interesting in that it provides a touchpoint for talking about things that are ignored, or taken for granted.
I agree with the criticisms of the piece. When I read it I feel like I have participated in something I am ashamed of. The idea of a white father loving his black daughter and taking care of her is good. Aren’t all fathers supposed to do that? What difference the color of the skin or the texture of the hair? Using this example to celebrate fatherhood is just distasteful, as if BECAUSE he is white and she is black he is somehow more worthy of praise. And the words and phrasing used are reminiscent the “good massa” if that makes sense to anyone else. I am white and I don’t mean to be offensive to anyone, but I really did find the whole article to be offensive and written from a perspective of superiority. It seems condescending in attitude.
I should have read Julia’s “Myopia of Privilege” before posting. Julia, you said it and I agree 100%.
Also, I hope contributors here will post with ideas and help for those of us who are trying to raise our black daughters to value their beauty in a world that often doesn’t.
atlasien,
I appreciate the context, especially these two points:
“In fact, some of the criticism here has made me reflect on the fact that although Atlanta is a minority-white city, that’s definitely not reflected by the AJC, whose lifestyle coverage is still geared to a predominantly white readership. ”
“I think the article is interesting in that it provides a touchpoint for talking about things that are ignored, or taken for granted.”
On your other points, I guess it seems to me that this article represents a sense some of us have about how various things–black hair, blackness, transracial parenting, to name a few–play out in society. In that way, it’s true that some of my criticisms and those of other authors in the roundtable are directed at what the article represents rather than the article itself. I wish we could start the discussion there…
Pia,
I said, Exactly! when I read this: ” The writer’s heavy-handed voice distracts from the real and more interesting issue: how do white parents navigate the murky cultural waters of raising a child from a different culture and of a different race? Do they adopt the narrowly defined standards of beauty that exist in both the white and black community? Or do they blissfully ignore these standards and expose their children to the alienation of not fitting in the name of freedom? ”
And I agree that the line about high-fives was hard to believe.
Thanks for this post.
atlasien: I’m glad you jumped in! And also appreciate that point “some of the criticism has made me reflect on the fact that although Atlanta is a minority-white city, that’s definitely not reflected by the AJC, whose lifestyle coverage is still geared to a predominantly white readership”. This observation is huge…and made me think:
How would the meaning of the piece change if it was written by a Black person to a Black audience?