By Mansfield Frazier
It’s a damn shame Gabby Douglas’ amazing accomplishment of winning multiple gold medals, including the one for world’s best all-round gymnast, has been overshadowed by something as trivial as the “look” of the dead protein on her head… in other words, her hair.
Evidently some bitchy little snipes — that probably have nothing better to do than spend an inordinate amount of their free time Tweeting (that is, when they are not spending it on having their own hair coifed) — judged Gabby’s hair not up to their standards. Never mind the fact this amazing young woman spends endless hours sweating and struggling to become the best in the world in one of the Olympics most competitive events and therefore has little time for primping and preening.
Her empty-headed critics obviously think she should be able to put in this hellish day-in-day-out work schedule and still come off on camera looking like a diva… like someone who has had their personal stylist work just as hellishly (and as long) making her hair look perfect.
Gymnastics (and especially swimming) have been the bane of black female athletes simply because of what sweating and water does to their hair… causing it to “revert” to its natural kinky state. The answer for some black women is to not straighten their hair in the first place… to simply wear some style of natural afro. Star Olympic volleyball player Megan Hodge elects to go this route with an array of natural looks. But I’m not sure that would have worked for Gabby, and here’s why: Keeping her hair natural — instead of torturing it into a state that allows her to have a ponytail like all of the other young women — could have cost her a gold medal. Seriously.
While the judging of Olympic (and all other) competition is supposed to be based purely on athletic ability, who is to say that some judge didn’t bring his prejudices to London with him? There’s ample evidence that many countries that claim to be democracies actually are “pigmentocracies” — the U.S. included — where skin color confers an unfair advantage in virtually every aspect of life. Are we to believe this stops at the Olympic venues?
For centuries upon centuries darker-skinned peoples of the world have been brainwashed into thinking something is wrong with the way they look. Fairly or unfairly, Eurocentric standards of beauty prevail in most of the world still today and people who best fit — or come closest to — that “blond-hair-blue-eyed-razor-thin” image Madison Avenue has foisted on the world on a daily basis for years have a leg up in every aspect of life… including sports judging.
So, it just might be that Gabby is afraid of wearing her hair “natural” since that could affect her scores in the highly subjective sport she participates in. And guess what? She just might be right. But for now she’s the best in the whole wide world. “You go girl.”
Hypocrites
A shirttail relative of mine was recently in town, taking a break from her job in the hospitality industry. She graduated with a master’s degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Management and has moved steadily up the ranks since landing her first job at a major hotel chain over a decade ago.
Pursuing a master’s degree in this area of study was a gutsy move on her part since it’s a well-known fact among blacks that, historically, the hotel industry was very slow to allow minorities into management; of course we could always change the beds, vacuum the halls, replace burnt out light bulbs and park cars… but that was about it. Moving up was out of the question.
It certainly didn’t hurt my relative’s chances that she’s a fair-skinned, very attractive black woman with an abundance of beautiful, well-mannered hair (she’s from one of the “other” branches of the family tree). It’s doubtful that her equally talented and personable cousin (of a darker hue) would have been given the same opportunity. There’s that old “pigmentocracy” at its ugly work again.
But, based on something she related, now I do somewhat understand why hotel chains didn’t want anyone but whites in management positions: Their records and receipts are a treasure trove of information on lifestyles… what people do, what they don’t do, and what they lie about doing.
As you might guess, in-room pay-per-view movies are a great little moneymaker for hotels, and according to my relative (who’s in a position to know), “adult movies” are far and away viewed the most. Hey, you’re away from home and what the hell, anything goes, right? But here’s where it gets interesting: guess which group of folks is the biggest consumers of hotel porn movies?
If you guessed evangelical, right-wing Christians, you’d be guessing right. My relative, laughing, told us that when the religious right folk take over a hotel for a convention or any other event, said hotel always experiences a very sharp spike in its adult movie rental income. She added that the phenomenon has occurred at every hotel she’s ever worked at, and is a well-known fact within the industry.
Now, personally, I don’t give a tinker’s dam what anyone watches in the privacy of their hotel room; it’s none of my business (nor yours)… but I just wish the holier-than-thou windbags on the right weren’t such a bunch of goddamn hypocrites.
Running Towards Gunfire
A friend sent me a link to a site developed by some very bright young black writers. They had an editorial bemoaning the fact that while an outpouring of sympathy occurred for the victims of the Colorado massacre, not enough sympathy is being shown for the victims of violence in inner-city Chicago and other communities; no hospitals are stepping up offering to cover the costs of these young black and brown kids’ medical care.
The upshot of the article is that all lives are of equal value, a point I’m in total agreement with… but, alas, my agreement ends there. The folks in the movie theater were innocent victims of a madman; they were shot running away from gunfire.
Sadly, too many young inner-city black and brown youth are wounded and killed while running towards gunfire. They engage in behaviors where shootouts have become commonplace and part of the culture. They hear gunshots and want to be in on what’s happening. And far too many of them die while clutching a gun, a bag of dope or over a pair of over-priced sneakers. It’s not like a slaughtering of innocents.
Indeed, a 14-year-old girl was recently shot in East Cleveland while attending her birthday party… but the shooting occurred at one o’clock in the morning! What the hell was she doing out at that time, not being chaperoned by an adult? Where were her parents?
Certainly all life is sacred and of equal value in the eyes of God; so when are parents going to understand that and protect their children from themselves and their bad behaviors… at least until they gain their majority? Sorry, but there’s simply no comparing inner-city mindless slaughter of our youth with the slaughter carried out by one lone madman.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.